An Unkindness of Nathan
by Vgameman2011
Summary: A rewrite of OTH, starting in Season 1. Lucas and Nathan just found out they're brothers. With both of them harboring feelings for one another, are they strong enough to stay away? WARNING: Contains Incest. Lathan.
1. Chapter 1

Some things you just can't control…

—-

As Lucas dribbles his basketball down the abandoned sidewalks of Tree Hill, a million different thoughts race through his mind.

*_Thump*_

Where has his father been all his life?

_*Thump*_

Why didn't he want him?

_*Thump*_

Was he just not good enough?

Shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts, he plugs his earphones in and dribbles at a faster pace. He just wants to get to the Rivercourt already, the only place he actually feels sane. Normally thoughts of his non-existent dad don't bother him this much, but today they're really taking their toll. Lucas has been without a father since before he can remember, his mom taking it upon herself to raise him. She owns a little cafe that brought in just enough business to keep them afloat. It wasn't what he would call comfortable living, but he acts like he has the world just to make his mom happy. She practically gave up her life for him, so in his opinion, it's the least he can do to pay her back.

He's just so fucking pissed at his dad for abandoning them. Watching his mom struggle to get by every day just makes it worse, and he wishes he could do something about it, like never even existing in the first place. She probably would've been better off. All he is is a burden on her.

_*Thump thump*_

Only a few minutes away from the Rivercourt now…

Not bothering to check first, Lucas dribbles into the middle of the street, completely lost in his own head. Suddenly a pair of bright lights come out of nowhere, and Lucas finally looks up.

Holy shit, he's about to get ran over if he doesn't hurry up and _move_!

But he's completely frozen, his legs locked with fear. The driver notices him at the last second and slams on the brakes, stopping just inches in front of Lucas. He looks and sees a girl with a mess of curly blonde hair behind the wheel, her eyes widened in shock.

After studying her for a second, he realizes it's Peyton Sawyer, a cheerleader for the Tree Hill Ravens, no doubt running late for the basketball game going on tonight. Looking annoyed, Peyton motions for him to get out of the way. He smiles, and continues along his way, Peyton speeding away once he's on the sidewalk.

Hopefully he can make it the rest of the way without getting killed.

—-

Okay, this is it. Only 15 seconds left on the clock, and they're down by 3. He can do this. He has to do this. Dan'll kill him if he doesn't.

Nathan zeroed in on the hoop in front of him. He has to make these free-throws. If he doesn't, the Ravens lose. _His_ team loses. He has to make these count.

He takes the first shot, which makes it in the basket. The gymnasium erupted with applause, cheering him on.

One shot down, one to go. He can do this.

He concentrates, and then takes the second shot. Shit, this one definitely isn't making it in. His throw was ridiculously off center. Nathan closed his eyes; he couldn't bare to watch this.

Wait, people were cheering! He glanced up at the scoreboard and saw they were only down by one.

_Hell yeah. _

The clock started running again, and Nathan sprung into action. Only 13 seconds left, and the other team has the ball. They took a shot, which bounced off the backboard and into Nathan's hands.

Shit, 8 seconds left. He has to move, and now.

Nathan turned and sprinted towards the other basket, the opposing team right on his heels. Two guys jump in front of him, trying to block his advance.

4 seconds.

He has to take this shot, it's his only chance. He jumps and shoots the ball, praying it'll go in.

_*Swoosh*_

The gym bursts with applause, everybody standing and cheering in the stands. His teammates surround him and shower him with praise, their faces beaming.

"Good game, Nate!"

"Awesome job, man!"

"That was amazing!"

The feeling after winning a game is a high that nobody could possibly understand. It's probably the single greatest thing in the world. Nathan's always loved basketball more than anything, even his own girlfriend.

Grinning from ear to ear as his teammates congratulate him, he looks around to try and find his dad, and eventually spots him in the corner of the gym. Nathan walks over to him, and is greeted with a look of disgust, the same look Dan always gives him no matter how well he did.

"You could've done better."

—-

Lucas makes it to the Rivercourt unscathed, and sees the guys already have a game going without him.

"Well well, if it isn't Lucas Roe in the flesh!" Skills says, turning to greet Lucas. "Where the hell you been? We been waiting out here forever."

"Sorry, I almost got ran over on my way here," Lucas says, smirking as he takes his earbuds out.

"Good thing you didn't, I'd hate to have to show a handicapped man up at basketball," Skills teases.

"Please, I'd still be able to take you in a wheelchair," Lucas retorts.

"Yeah, okay," Skills says, laughing. "C'mon man, we got a game to play."

Nodding, Lucas makes his way onto the court, running his hands through his shaggy blonde hair.

"And here comes Lucas Roe ladies and gentleman. Will his appearance turn the tide of the game?" Mouth commentates, sitting on the bleachers and speaking into a tape recorder. Eventually, Lucas is going to take that thing and chuck it into the river.

Skills passes him the ball and the game begins. All the thoughts of his father were long gone. Nothing could bother him out here when he's on the Rivercourt with his friends, playing the game. The game was what kept him alive, and what kept him out of his own mind.

Well, as long as the game was going, anyway.

Sitting on the bleachers after the game is over, Lucas rubs his temples. His head is fucking throbbing.

Skills notices and sits down next to him.

"You're thinking about him again aren't you?" Skills asks him.

"No," Lucas lies, which gets him an angry look from Skills. He's a terrible liar. "… Yeah."

Sighing, Skills pats him on the back. "Look bro, you can't let it get to you this much. It's his own loss for never including you in his life. Whoever this guy is, I'm sure he's regretting it every single day."

"Yeah, right. If he cared that much i'm sure I would at least know his name by now."

"Why don't you try and ask your mom?" Skills asks him.

"I've tried, but she always looks so upset when I bring it up, so I just quit asking about it," Lucas replies.

"Well look dude, I say you're better off. You've done just fine without him so far," Skills says.

"Maybe you're right," Lucas tells him, not believing a single word coming out of his own mouth.

"Of course I'm right," Skills exclaims, standing up. "Now turn that frown upside-down and get ready for the next game."

Skills walks away to join the other guys back on the court, leaving Lucas to drown in his thoughts. He just feels so goddamn pathetic. This man that he doesn't even know has taken such a huge chunk of his life, and Lucas keeps on letting him.

He shakes his head and goes to join the other guys again, trying to keep himself away from his thoughts as much as possible.

—

"Did I tell you I almost hit Lucas Roe tonight? He walked right into the middle of the street and then stared at me like _I_ was crazy," Peyton says.

"Mm," Nathan responds.

Nathan could not be more uninterested as Peyton is on top of him in his bed, trying to tease her way into his clothes. As horny as he is, he can't stop thinking about the look his dad gave him after the game, which is the last thing he wants to think about when he's about to have sex.

Peyton sighs, probably noticing how little effort he's putting in, and rests her head on his shoulder.

"What's the matter?" she asks him, running her fingers through his dark hair.

"I'm just never good enough," Nathan replies.

"Nate…" Peyton sighs, putting her head down.

"You should've seen the way he looked at me! Like I was the most disappointing thing ever," Nathan says.

"Nate, _you won the game_. Who cares what your ass of a father thinks?" Peyton says, propping herself up on her elbow.

"I do, okay?" Nathan replies, turning away from her. She just doesn't get it, and she never will.

"C'mon, quit sulking," Peyton tells him, passionately kissing the back of his neck.

"Will you quit? I'm not in the mood!" Nathan yells, jumping out of bed.

Peyton scoffs at him and stands up.

"Fine, stay here and wallow in your own pity party for all I care," Peyton says, gathering her things and walking towards the door. "I'm leaving."

"Good! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." Nathan spat, laying back down on the bed as she slams the door.

Damn it, he did it again.

Things weren't going good between him and Peyton, and for reasons that he wasn't entirely sure of. They started out great, always happy and laughing with each other, and fucking each other's brains out over and over again. Peyton's dad had to go on long trips because of his work, leaving Peyton with an incredibly convenient empty home. Nathan used to stay over all the time, but recently…. things have changed. They argue all the time, mostly about stupid shit, and they haven't had sex in weeks. Nathan can't explain it, but he just feels empty; like something's missing from his life. It was a void that Peyton could never fill, no matter how hard she tried, and that scared Nathan. She was everything a guy could want: sexy, blonde, great body, cheerleader, and with a sharp tongue to boot. So why is it that he still felt empty?

Sighing, Nathan put a pillow over his face, trying to sleep the rest of this terrible day away.

—-

"Hey mom, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Lucas walks onto his front porch, and sits down on the porch swing next to his mom, Karen, who was drinking a cup of coffee. She sat out here every morning to drink her coffee before heading to the cafe.

"Sure," Karen replies, shifting towards her son. "Whats up?"

"It's about my dad…," Lucas begins, causing Karen to tense up in response.

"Luke, I told you before -"

"I know what you said mom," Lucas interrupts, "but please. I'm 17 and I think I should have a right to at least know who my father is. I know you've been keeping it from me to protect me, but I want to know. Please?"

Karen sighs as she takes another drink of her coffee. Finally she looks at Lucas and responds. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Lucas nods in response. He doesn't care if he gets upset about her answer, he just wants to know. This has been haunting him long enough.

"Your father… is Dan Scott."

Wait, Dan Scott? THE Dan Scott? It has to be a mistake. If Dan Scott's his father, then that means…

"Wait, mom, are you serious?" Lucas asks, completely in denial of what she just told him. "But my last name…"

"Is actually my maiden name," Karen finishes, reaching over to rub his shoulder. "Your real last name is Scott, Lucas. I just hid it from you to protect you. That name carries too much of a burden in this town."

Lucas cannot believe what he's hearing right now.

"Why would you hide that from me?"

"Dan abandoned us to play basketball, Luke. He didn't and still doesn't deserve you. I wanted to keep you as far away from him as possible," Karen answers.

It isn't the fact that Dan Scott is his dad that's making him so upset right now, it's the fact that… if Dan Scott is his dad, Nathan Scott is his brother.

Groaning, Lucas wraps his hands around his stomach, rocking back and forth. He feels like he's going to lose his breakfast.

He's been infatuated with Nathan for as long as he can remember, even when he used to pick on Lucas in grade school. There was something about him that just drew him in, even if he tried to fight it. Lucas loved watching him play basketball, on the off chance he and his best friend Haley were bored enough to go to a game. The gleam Nathan got in his dark blue eyes when he scored was so gorgeous to Lucas. But he's never been gay, far from it in fact, but Nathan was a whole different entity to him. No one knew about this crush; he's kept it well hidden, but to find out they're actually brothers? No, he won't believe it. He can't.

Yep, he's definitely gonna throw up.

Lucas runs to the bathroom as quickly as he can, Karen right on his toes as he slams the door behind him.

"Luke?! Luke honey are you okay?" Karen asks him, knocking on the door. He's throwing up too much to answer her.

_No_, he thought.

He has the hots for his own fucking _brother_.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up."

What the fuck?

Nathan rolls over to look at his alarm: 5:30. Is his dad kidding? He groggily covers his head with his pillow, trying to pretend like his dad isn't waking him up at the ass-crack of dawn.

"Get up son."

"Dad, would you get the hell out of my room?" Nathan retorts.

"You need to do some more training if you want the scouts to notice you. Your performance last night was sluggish," Dan says, taking the pillow away from Nathan and throwing it on the floor.

"My performance was fine; I made the winning shot," Nathan says, now sitting up and facing his dad. It's too early for this shit.

"You got winded in the middle of the second half, Nathan. Is that the type of thing you want the scouts to see?" Dan asks. If Nathan never heard the word "scout" again, it would be far too soon.

"No, I guess not," Nathan says, rising out of his bed to grab some running clothes.

"Good. Meet you outside in ten," Dan says, exiting the room.

"Yeah," Nathan answers, still half asleep. It's times like these where he wishes his mom wasn't working so much. She was the only one who could stop Dan from being so obsessively controlling. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be home for another week or so, leaving Nathan to deal with Dan himself.

Nathan gets dressed and heads to the kitchen to grab some coffee. He's going to need an entire pot to stay awake today. He couldn't fall asleep for hours last night, his fight with Peyton and his dad's disappointment swirling around in his mind. Those weren't the only things bothering him, however:

_"Dude, you never told me you have a brother!" Tim exclaimed, sitting next to Nathan in the cafeteria._

_"What the hell are you talking about, Tim?" Nathan asked."I'm an only child, unless you've smoked so much weed you've forgotten about that."_

_"What? No!" Tim said, clearly a little offended by Nate's accusation. "I overheard my mom talking about it with my dad last night. She said she remembers your dad and Karen Roe dating in high school. Apparently he got her pregnant and then left her."_

_Nathan practically choked on his pizza before turning towards his friend. "Karen Roe? Tim, if that's true, which I highly doubt it is, that would mean that freak Lucas is my brother."_

_"It is true!" Tim said before pulling an old Tree Hill yearbook out of his backpack and slamming it down on the lunch table. He flipped furiously through the pages and came across the one he was looking for. "Here, look."_

_Nathan snatched the yearbook and tried to find what Tim was talking about. He found an old picture of his dad standing with some girl. "This doesn't prove anything, Tim."_

_"Would you read the caption underneath the picture, Nate?" Tim asked him, getting annoyed._

_'Dan Scott and Karen Roe, cutest couple award.' _

_"Holy shit," Nathan said, putting the yearbook down on the table and leaning back in his chair._

_"Right?! Isn't it crazy? Your dad has a bastard child he never even told you about!" Tim laughed._

_Nathan was really trying not to hit him in the face._

_"I lost my appetite," Nathan said, getting up from the table and walking away._

_"Hey, wait Nate!" Tim called after him._

_"Leave me alone, Tim!" Nathan responded. _

"You ready, son?"

The voice of his dad pulls Nathan out of his memory. He glances down at his half empty coffee cup and nods, getting up and following his dad outside.

It was cold as hell outside, and all Nathan wants is to be back in bed, and the last thing he wants is to be around his dad right now.

Halfway through their run, his dad tries to start conversation.

"So I heard a lot of yelling coming from your room last night, mind telling me what that was about?" Dan asks, bending down to tie his shoe.

"It was nothing," Nathan lies.

"You can tell me, son," Dan says.

"It's none of your business, honestly," Nathan spits, starting into a run again.

Dan gets up and follows behind him. "Like hell it's not. Is that girl the reason your game was crap last night?"

"I don't have to tell you anything, considering the fact you've been lying to me for the past 17 years," Nathan baits, still trying to focus on running instead of his dad.

Dan grabs his arm and pulls him to a stop.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know, the fact that I have a brother you've never told me about," Nathan says. Clearly it was true judging by his dad's face; he's never seen somebody look so surprised in his life. "So it's true."

"Son, listen, you have to understand- " Dan starts, but Nathan isn't having it.

"Understand what? That you were just going to try and erase him from existence hoping I would never find out? Think again, Dan." He can see the anger rising in his dad. He's always hated it when Nathan calls him by his first name, which is why he continues to do it so much. He abuses every opportunity he can to piss his dad off.

Shaking his head, Nathan takes off, leaving his dad standing with nothing to say.

If only it were this easy to shut him up all the time.

—

That day in school, Lucas wished he could hide under a rock for the rest of his life.

He's nervously tapping his pencil in study hall, continuously looking towards Nathan, who was sitting at the table adjacent to his. This was all way too much to take in for him. The whole thing isn't fair; why in the hell does his dad have to be Dan? Hell, he'd rather be related to Tim Smith than Nathan, and that guy's a complete douchebag. Glancing over at Nathan again, he sees his brother looking back, looking at Lucas like he's a freak of nature.

Okay, he has to get out of here, _now. _He can't take this anymore.

Gathering his things and getting up from his table, he plans to escape study hall (_the bathroom seems like a nice place to hideout; anywhere's better than in here_) when Coach Whitey walks into the room.

"Scott?" Whitey calls out.

"Yeah?" Lucas instinctively answers at the same time as Nathan, despite just finding out that was his last name that morning. Nathan looks at him with a look of utter confusion.

"Crap, I get so used to saying that name all the time it's become a habit. Must be old age," Whitey says, shaking his head. "I meant to say Roe. Nathan, read a book or something, it might be good for you."

Whitey points at him. "You, I need to talk to you for a second."

"Sure thing," Lucas responds, following Whitey out of the room. What could the coach possibly want to talk to him about?

Whitey leads Lucas into the gymnasium, which was currently empty.

"Most people like their gyms filled with people and noise. I like mine just like this. Let's me concentrate better," Whitey says, grabbing a basketball out of the rack in the middle of the floor.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lucas asks, still confused as to why he's here. However, it is getting him out of study hall, thank god.

"I have an opening spot in the lineup, a varsity spot. Interested?" Whitey asks, tossing Lucas the basketball.

Lucas catches the ball and looks at it for a bit, lost in thought. Him? A Tree Hill Raven? Being on the same team as Nathan? No, there was no way he would be able to do it. No way in hell.

"Sorry coach, but all of this," Lucas begins, his finger pointing in every direction around him, "it isn't for me."

"I've seen you play at the Rivercourt Lucas, and I think you'd be an asset to the team," Whitey pleads, clearly desperate for Lucas to join.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Lucas responds. He hands the ball back to Whitey before turning to exit the gym. "Thanks for the offer though, coach." He can tell Whitey's disappointed, but he just can't bring himself to do it. Being in the same room with Nathan was agonizing, let alone being on the same basketball team with him. As much as he wanted to say yes out of his love for the game, he just can't.

The rest of the day was just as unbearable for Lucas; he kept seeing Nathan everywhere. He saw him in the cafeteria, in the hallway, in English class, hell, he practically could see him when he closed his eyes. The worst part of it was that he still found Nathan attractive. He kept finding himself wanting to kiss those lips of his and stare into those deep blue eyes…

… but he just felt so fucking _wrongwrongwrong!_

"Earth to Luke, are you listening?"

"Hm, what?" Lucas answers. He and Haley were walking home from school, and as much as he was trying to pay attention to her, his mind was going a mile a minute.

"I said you should really join the Ravens. I mean, why not, right? Show all of those jerks up at their own game," Haley says, looking over and smiling at Lucas.

"I can't, Hales, seriously."

"Why not?" Haley asks him, frowning.

"It's.. it's a long story, but just believe me when I say that I can't," Lucas answers. He hates lying to Haley. They tell each other everything, but this was something she didn't need to know about him. He can't even imagine how that conversation would even go.

_"Oh hey, so I've had a crush on Nathan Scott since forever and guess what? I found out this morning that he's my brother, but I still like him! Isn't that great?!"_

"Just promise me that you'll consider it, at least?" Haley pleads.

"Okay, sure, I'll consider it," Lucas answers, Haley letting out a "yay!" in response, "but I'm not making any promises, okay?"

"As long as you promise you'll think about it, that's okay with -"

Haley was cut off by a group of birds flying out of an alley at her, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Damn! Okay, what is up?! I was attacked by a flock of crows the other week!" Haley yells, laughing as she regains her composure. Noticing Lucas is laughing at her, she shoves him and says "I'm serious!"

"Oh, by the way, it's actually a murder," Lucas tells her.

"What?" Haley asks him, looking confused.

"Well, more than one crow is a murder," Lucas explains.

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about," Haley responds, laughing and shaking her head.

"A parliament of owls; an exaltation of larks; a murder of crows," Lucas explains further.

"Okay, I think that's why people think you're weird," Haley teases. "So, what do you call more than one Raven?"

"An unkindness," Lucas answers.

Later that night, as Lucas closes his eyes to go to bed, he sees Nathan everywhere.

An unkindness of Nathans.


	3. Chapter 3

_So he knew._

Nathan was bench pressing in his weight room the following morning, trying to sweat all of his anger out.

_He knew all along and never told me. Was I the only fucking person who didn't know we were related?! _

Clearly it isn't working out so well.

Nathan is absolutely furious about the fact that Lucas already knew they were brothers and didn't say a goddamn thing to him. Lucas responded to Whitey when he called out "Scott?", so he has to know something! Not only that, but Whitey even asked him to join the team! Even if they don't talk, he still could've said something. Everybody's gonna know they're brothers at this point, which is the last thing Nathan wants. For being a popular jock, Nathan really hates being in the spotlight.

Screw this, man.

Still furiously lifting away, Nathan doesn't even hear Dan enter the room.

"What are you slinging?" Dan asks, making his presence known. Fantastic, now Dan's here to make things even worse. Perfect.

"Bout 160," Nathan answers, trying to ignore Dan as much as possible.

"Gimme that," Dan says, snatching the bar from Nathan and adding more weight to it. Sighing, Nathan starts lifting again.

"So did you hear - "

"That Whitey asked your son to join the team?" Nathan finishes for him. "Yeah, I know."

"Don't call him that," Dan spits, spotting Nathan from behind.

"He still exists dad, even if he doesn't have our last name," Nathan breathes, struggling to lift the bar. How much weight did his dad add to this thing? Christ.

"He actually does. His mother calls him a Roe just to spite me, but I guess if she called him a Scott it would just be wishful thinking on her part." Dan informs him. No wonder Lucas answered Whitey yesterday. "We were young and made a mistake."

"You definitely made a mistake, all right," Nathan says. Noticing Dan was getting angry, he says "Look, it's just kind of screwed up, all right? People are talking about it."

Realizing Nathan was struggling, Dan grabs the bar from him and asks him to move. Nathan gets up and begins to spot his dad.

"Regardless, you have to take him down. Make sure he knows how much hell he'll be in for if he joins the team," Dan says, effortlessly lifting the weights Nathan was struggling with, probably just to show him up.

"I'm not afraid of him, dad," Nathan tells him. This guy definitely doesn't scare him, he's just an annoyance that Nathan really doesn't need right now.

"Well, you should be," Dan tells him. "We've worked too hard for somebody to come in and screw everything up now. He'll be stealing shots from you, disrupting the offense; just a lot things we don't need." A lot of things Nathan doesn't need, or a lot of things Dan doesn't need? Nathan just wishes that his dad would leave him alone to play the game how he wants. Although, he does have a point. Having this kid on the team will just make his life even more complicated, which is the last thing he wants.

Later that day before practice, Tim brought up Lucas again. "So your dad finally admitted he had a bastard spawn, huh?" Can Tim just shut the hell up for once in his life?

"They say he actually has game, so maybe we can use him," another of Nathan's teammates says, shutting his locker.

"Please, I could get us to the championship with three blind guys and a cripple, which is practically all I have left with you guys," Nathan says, smirking and pulling his jersey over his head. "We don't need him."

"Well whatever," Tim says. "So, what are we doing after practice?"

Standing in front of his locker, Nathan thinks about the conversation he had with his dad earlier that morning. He has to make sure this kid doesn't screw things up for him. Dan will be on his ass even more if he allows Lucas to join the team.

Shutting his locker, he replies. "Let's go to the park."

—

Finally, some peace and quiet away from all of the madness.

Lucas was alone at the Rivercourt, shooting hoops to help clear his mind. There was far too much craziness in his life right now. Despite telling Whitey no yesterday, he was strongly considering rethinking his decision about joining the Ravens. Skills basically told him that he wouldn't play ball with Lucas anymore unless he joined, because Skills didn't want to be "shooting to be his excuse." While it initially pissed him off, Skills had a point. Lucas is far too talented to just be playing casual ball in the park, and he knows it, but there's one obstacle blocking his path from joining: Nathan.

As soon as that name crosses his mind, he sees a familiar black truck pulling up to the Rivercourt: Nathan's truck. Lucas can feel his heart rate increasing by the second, but keeps shooting as if nothing's wrong. What's Nathan doing here?

"Nice shot," Nathan says after Lucas sinks the ball from the 3-point line. Lucas wanted to say thanks, but Nathan continued. "Think you can do that when you're double teamed, down by two, and in a packed house full of people telling you you suck?" Nathan was trying to bait him, his blue eyes flecked with anger. Clearly he's found out that Whitey asked him to be on the team.

"What do you want?" Lucas asks.

"What do I want? What do you want, man? Other than my girlfriend and my spot on the lineup?" Nathan asks.

What the hell is he talking about? His girlfriend? Lucas has never even talked to Peyton (_plus, you're the one I like, moron),_ nor does he want Nathan's spot. Where is he pulling this crap from?

"Your girlfriend?"

"Peyton was telling me about how you were checking her out the other night."

"She almost hit me with her car!" Lucas yells, his anger increasing.

"Too bad she didn't," Nathan says coldly. Lucas wants to break down so badly right now. The guy he's liked since forever (_hell, his own brother_) is talking to him like he's nothing more than a piece of trash. "Look man, I don't want you, the guys don't want you, and my girlfriend sure as hell doesn't want you (_this idiot_)."

Lucas's desire to join the Ravens is increasing tenfold. Who the hell is Nathan to talk to him like this? Whether Lucas likes him or not, he's going to show this asshole up.

"Tell you what," Lucas begins. "One on one, me and you, right here, tomorrow at midnight."

"Fine. If I win, you crawl back into your little hole and stay out of my life."

"And if I win, I get to join the team," Lucas says.

"Deal. Try not to chicken out," Nathan says, turning and walking away.

"But one more thing," Lucas says, causing Nathan to turn back around. Lucas is determined to fuck Nathan's world up any way he knows how. At this point, he wants Nathan to hate him. It would make things so much easier if Nathan hates him. Hell, maybe it would make this horrible crush go away.

"I also get Peyton."

—-


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, things at his Uncle Keith's shop were incredibly awkward. Lucas worked there after school a few days a week. He's always considered Keith an uncle, but now to find out he actually IS his uncle is crazy. More than anything, Lucas is just upset that Keith never said anything to him before.

Lucas is working on removing a tire in the shop when Keith walks up to him.

"Are we ever gonna talk, Luke, or are we just going to pussyfoot around each other from now on?" Keith asked him, wiping his greasy hands on a rag.

"I don't know, Keith. I don't really feel like talking to someone whose been lying to my face my entire life," Lucas spits, trying to make Keith feel like shit.

"I never once lied to you intentionally Luke, I was just respecting your mother's wishes," Keith tells him. "She was just trying to keep you away from my ass of a brother, and I can't say I blame her. Dan's a horrible man."

"I could've pretended I didn't know, Keith!" Lucas yells, turning to face his uncle, waving the wrench in his face. "But at least I would've known!"

"You're right, Luke. I tried to tell her it was wrong, but it wasn't my place to say anything to you," Keith says. "I'm sorry."

As much as he wants to yell at Keith more, he just can't. He doesn't really blame Keith for anything; he's just in Lucas's line of fire.

"No, I'm sorry for freaking out. I know it isn't your fault. If I yell at anybody, it should be Dan."

"Just be careful, Luke," Keith tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Dan Scott isn't somebody you want to be enemies with. He'll make your life hell; trust me."

"He's already trying," Lucas tells him, turning back around to work on the car.

"What do you mean?" Keith asks him.

"Nathan showed up at the Rivercourt yesterday, accusing me of wanting to 'take his spot on the team' and 'wanting to steal his girlfriend.' We've barely even spoken to each other since we were kids, so I find it a little weird that he would come at me out of the blue like that. I think Dan put him up to it." The wounds Nathan's words gave him from yesterday were still fresh and oozing, and it left him with a suffocating feeling in his chest.

"So now we're playing a one on one game tomorrow night. If I win, I get to join the team," Lucas tells him.

"That's just sick; using your own brother to hurt you. Typical," Keith says, rubbing his temples.

Their conversation is cut short by the phone, ringing away in the corner of the garage. Lucas grabs it and answers. "Keith Scott Body Shop."

"Hey, my car broke down on me on River Road, any way I could get a tow?" a female voice asks.

"Sure thing. Can I get a name and number in case we need to contact you?"

"Peyton Sawyer," she answers.

Lucas smiled to himself. The ball is in his court.

_Here's my chance._

_—_

Lucas finally found Peyton about ten minutes outside of Tree Hill. He backs up and parks the tow truck in front of her car, and sees her on her phone. Getting out of the truck, he listens to her conversation.

"Nate, hey, it's me. All right. Well hey, listen, my car broke down, would you be able to come pick me up?"

Of course she called him. Rolling his eyes, he begins to lower the hook on the truck.

"So leave the gym then. It'll take you like, ten minutes tops. I'm right around the curve on River Road," Peyton says, her face contorting into a scowl. "Well it sucks to be you, doesn't it?" Peyton flips her phone shut, leaning against her car and running her hands through her hair. Lucas guesses he isn't coming to get her.

Perfect.

"Hey, are you sure you have a ride?" Lucas asks her. "I can wait here if you want."

"Yeah, cause _that's _what I want," She says, her sarcasm practically smacking him in the face. "Just have your dad call me with an estimate."

Well, this is awkward, and is not going anywhere near the direction Lucas was hoping it would.

"My… uncle?" Lucas says, scratching the back of his head. "Who is also apparently my biological uncle, which I just found out a few days ago."

"If that's your story," Peyton says.

What's her problem?

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Lucas asks, just getting done hooking her car to the tow truck, and raising the front end.

"It's a free country," She responds.

"Why the hell are you a cheerleader? You are probably the least cheerful person I've ever met," Lucas tells her.

"Everybody has their reasons," She replies.

Several minutes have passed by now. They've been standing quietly, not saying another word to each other, and she was still pointlessly waiting on Nathan to come get her.

"Look, just let me give you a ride," Lucas says, breaking the silence. "I'll even let you insult me."

"Okay, first of all, you don't know me, so don't act like you do," Peyton begins, "and secondly, you still don't know me! God, why are guys such jerks?!"

"Guys, or Nathan?"

He's really trying his best to turn her against him. It's pretty low, especially for Lucas, but right now he couldn't give two shits.

Peyton hesitates for a second before answering.

"Him. You." She responds.

"Well, apparently we do share the same father," Lucas tells her.

"Yeah, I heard about that today," She says. "He's kind of an ass, though. You really lucked out, huh?"

Lucas nods, not really sure of what to say next. So, Peyton continues.

"So you never knew he was your father?"

"Not until this week," Lucas responds. "I remember me and Nathan used to play in junior little leagues together." He also remembers this being the time he started to become infatuated with Nathan. The way he played was absolutely beautiful, and it still is. Even though he's utterly pissed off at him, Lucas can't deny how gorgeous his brother is.

He might need mental help.

"Basketball?" Peyton asks him.

Lucas nods, and continues. "I remember the reason why I quit, too. I saw my mom talking to Nathan's dad, and she ran away crying. I asked her what was wrong, but she just smiled and told me everything was okay, trying to make me feel better. That was the day I quit the team; I never wanted to see her cry like that again."

He sighs, leaning against the tow truck. He remembers it clear as day: the pain in his mom's eyes after she got done talking to that strange man he'd never met. It was almost enough to make him quit basketball for good.

Almost.

"Why would you tell me all of that? We barely know each other," She asks him.

Honestly, he doesn't have an answer. "Maybe that's the point," He responds. It was all he could come up with. But it worked, as she was smiling at him now.

Finally, Nathan's truck appeared in the distance. Stopping in the middle of the road, Nathan yells "Come on, Peyton."

"See ya," She waves to Lucas. "And thanks, I guess."

The look on Nathan's face made this trip completely worth it.

—-

Nathan can feel the anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. Why the hell did she smile at him like that? Peyton's _his_ girlfriend, goddamn it, and he'll be damned if he lets somebody come in and mess that up.

Not only that, but he's missing out on valuable practice time because of Peyton's piece of shit car.

"Next time, Peyton, don't let your car break down in the middle of bum-fucking-nowhere," Nathan spits, his hands wrapped tight as hell around the wheel as he drives.

"Well excuse me, superstar. Next time I'll be sure to tell my car to hold it till we get home," Peyton shoots back, propping herself against the passenger side window.

"You do that," Nathan says. "And why the hell were you with Lucas?"

"Really, Nathan?" Peyton yells, the anger in her voice getting more noticeable. "He works for your uncle at his shop. Next time I'll also make sure to push the car back myself."

Her smart ass mouth is really beginning to grate on his nerves.

"Oh wait, your uncle is his uncle too, isn't it?"

That's it.

"Will you shut the hell up? That's none of your goddamn business," Nathan yells at her.

"Why does he scare you so much, Nathan? What are you so afraid of?" Peyton asks him.

It's then that he realizes the real reason why he's so angry.

He caught himself staring at Lucas's greased up body for far too long.

—


	5. Chapter 5

During practice, Nathan made it a point to have sex with Peyton that night.

"Will you just take me home, please?" Peyton pleads, looking absolutely miserable on the ride to his house.

"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, Peyton. I've just been going through a lot lately," He tells her, really trying to convince her to come home with him. He needs this, and needs it bad, because whatever the hell happened when he went to pick Peyton up, he doesn't want it to ever happen again.

"I'm sorry's getting a little old, Nathan," She says curtly.

"I know, but look, I wanna make it up to you, if you'll let me?" He looks over at her and makes the best puppy dog face he can muster right now. Finally she folds and starts laughing.

Damn, he's good.

Immediately when they get to his house, Nathan drags her into the shower, furiously ripping her clothes off as well as his own. He turns the water on, not once moving his mouth from hers. He runs his fingers through her hair and pulls her head back, trailing his lips down the nape of her neck, making her moan.

_Yeah, bet you like that, don't you Lucas?_

Suddenly, he jumps away, looking at Peyton like he's seen a ghost.

"What the hells the matter?" Peyton asks with a bewildered expression.

Honestly, he doesn't even fucking _know._

"Sorry, it's nothing," Nathan tells her, continuing where he left off.

What the hell, man?

Nathan continues working his tongue all the way down her body, ending up between her legs, making her moan even harder. Pushing his soaking wet hair back, he stands up and shoves her against the wall. Then, he pushes his dick inside her, causing her to practically scream with excitement.

"Fuck yeah," Nathan breathes, kissing her on the neck. Then he closes his eyes and suddenly imagines…

_Lucas._

He starts thrusting even harder now.

_Hell yeah. You like that? Like when I put my dick inside you, Lucas?_

"Shit, Nate, I'm gonna -," Peyton breathes, mere seconds away from an orgasm.

Peyton screams out in pleasure, her contractions sending Nathan over the edge. He pulls out and shoots his load everywhere.

"Holy shit, that was great," Peyton says, trying her best to catch her breath. "You've never screwed me like that before."

Nathan doesn't answer her.

"Nate?"

He still doesn't answer her, unable to do anything but stand under the running water. Was he just imagining himself fucking-

No, no way in hell. He stops himself from even thinking that thought.

"Hm? What?" He finally answers, breaking free from his trance.

"You okay?" She asks.

"I'm great, babe. That was awesome!" He says, pulling her in and kissing her on the forehead. "Now I'm more than ready to play this game tonight."

He was completely lying through his teeth. He knows what just happened, even if deep down he doesn't want to admit it. The thought of seeing Lucas after that absolutely petrified him. Just what the hell is going on inside his head right now?

After they finished their shower, Nathan can hear Dan come in the house as he's drying off.

"Crap, my dad's home," Nathan says, wrapping his towel around his waist. "I'll walk out first, okay?" Peyton nods in agreement.

As soon as he leaves the bathroom, he comes face to face with Dan.

"What's up, dad?" Nathan asks. Dan looks at the ring Nathan has on his left nipple and smirks.

"If I wanted a daughter, I'd adopt one," Dan says.

"So you can abandon her, too?" Nathan says. "Just a joke, dad."

"Uh-huh. And this bet tonight, is that just a joke too?" Dan asks. How does he even know about that?

_Tim_.

Nathan makes a mental note to tape his mouth shut later.

"Nope," Nathan answers.

"What if he beats you and makes you look like a fool? You have everything to lose here, Nathan, and nothing to gain."

"Sometimes what you call everything, I call nothing," Nathan retorts. Can't his dad butt out for once?

"I'm just trying to make you do what's best, Nathan. Call this off and we'll find another way," Dan pleads with him.

"No, dad, I'm not going to," Nathan tells him. "I do a lot of stuff for you, almost everything, but I'm doing this for me."

Leaving it at that, he turns and walks towards his room.

He has to beat Lucas tonight. If he doesn't, Lucas will be on the team, and whatever fucked up thoughts Nathan keeps having will just continue.

The further away Lucas is from him, the better.

—

Lucas and Haley get to the Rivercourt that night just ten minutes before midnight, seeing hordes of people sitting in the bleachers.

"You've got to be kidding me," Haley says. "How many people know about this?"

Tim Smith walks up to them, smirking. "Hope you don't mind, but I told a few people."

"No problem at all," Lucas responds. He can take Nathan with or without an audience.

Lucas proceeds to the center of the court, grabbing a basketball and shooting some practice shots. He can hear Mouth commentating as he's shooting.

"And Lucas Roe is warming up, ladies and gentleman. With only a few minutes before midnight, one has to wonder, just where is Nathan Scott?"

Good question. Is he chickening out?

As soon as the thought enters his mind, he sees Nathan's truck pulling up to the court. Nathan gets out first, followed by Peyton. He waves at her, which gets him a slight smile and wave in return. He can tell Nathan noticed, as his scowl just increased tenfold (_God he's cute when he's mad)._

The people in the stands are cheering Nathan's name. Lucas isn't going to let anything psych him out.

Not even how gorgeous his brother looks right now.

"You ready for this?" Nathan asks him, standing in front of him in the center of the court.

"Born ready," Lucas responds. "What're the rules?"

"First to fifteen by ones," Nathan says.

"Fine by me."

"It's your life," Nathan says curtly.

"Yeah, it is."

Lucas jumps and shoots the ball, making it in. Nathan retrieves it and hands it back to him.

"Go ahead man, I still have all night to whoop your ass," Nathan says cockily. In response, Lucas shoots and makes another one.

"What happened to all night?" Lucas asks him as he went to retrieve the ball again. The fire in Nathan's eyes is getting hotter by the second. Lucas can tell he's furious.

_Hate me, Nathan. Hate me so this can be easier. Hate me so this ache in my chest goes away._

"Is that all you got? If that's all you got, this is already over," Nathan baits.

The game went on, each brother making shot after shot. Lucas can tell that his brother's bringing his A-game.

It's 13-12, with Nathan's lead now. He can't let him score again.

Lucas is trying to block Nathan from shooting, when suddenly Nathan jumps and elbows him in the face, tossing the ball into the basket. A white hot flash of pain erupts in his nose, and he can taste copper in his mouth. Spitting out blood, Lucas turns and looks at Nathan.

"No foul; shot counts," He says.

"And the basket counts! It's 14-12 now, game point for Nathan! Could this be it?" Mouth commentates from the bleachers.

They line back up in the middle of the court. Lucas can practically taste the anger welling up inside of him.

"You won't score again," Lucas spits, which gets him a smirk from Nathan.

The game starts again, Nathan running towards the basket, but Lucas is right on his heels. Nathan attempts a layup, which Lucas stops by slamming his hand against the ball before it could even touch the rim. The audience bursts into applause.

They line up again, with Lucas in possession of the ball. Nathan's looking increasingly more and more panicked. Lucas jumps and shoots, making it in. Now he's only down by one.

"Don't choke now," Nathan teases, handing him the ball. Not responding, Lucas sinks another shot.

Now they're tied. One more shot, and he wins.

_One more shot, and hopefully, Nathan will hate him for good._

So he shoots, praying that the ball goes in.

And it does.

The audience goes completely berserk with applause. People start to crowd him, showering him with praise and congratulations. Eventually he sees Haley break through the mass of people, and runs up to give her a hug.

"I knew you could do it!" Haley exclaims, letting Lucas lift her into a hug. "I never doubted you for a second!"

"Thanks, Hales," Lucas responds, grinning from ear to ear.

Peyton makes her way to him as well.

"So Nathan tells me I'm your prize?" She asks him.

"I was just trying to scare him," Lucas answers. He figures that he's embarrassed Nathan enough for one day; stealing his girlfriend would just be a low blow.

That day, anyway.

Plus, as much as he wants Nathan to hate him, there's a larger part that just wants Nathan to love him, even if that would literally _never_ happen. Not to mention how fucked up it is.

Speaking of Nathan, where did he go?

Amidst all of the commotion, Lucas completely lost track of Nathan. He looks all around for him, eventually spotting him standing by his truck, staring right at Lucas.

He looks absolutely terrified.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: All Nathan for this chapter! Don't worry, Lucas will be back in the next one. You don't wanna miss it, trust me! ;)**

The next week was absolute hell for Nathan.

The day after their one on one match, Lucas joined the Ravens, which means that he's been at every single damn practice and game they've had since then. It wouldn't bother Nathan so much if he didn't find himself wanting to fuck his brains out every single time he looks at him.

Now that he thinks about it, he's been like this for a long time.

He remembers Lucas quitting the junior little leagues and how sad he was. Back then he didn't understand why, but later he finally figured it out.

He really, really, liked this guy. His baby blue eyes, his pouty lips, his slender swimmer's body, how his face lights up when he laughs.. Nathan wants every single bit of him.

But, he can't have him. Finding out they were actually related was probably one of the absolute worst things that could've happened. And even worse than that?

He still can't stop looking at him, and it scares him so bad. What if he can't control himself and makes a move and then Lucas never speaks to him again? Not like he'd blame him anyway; Nathan has been a royal prick to Lucas, but it's not out of hate; quite the opposite, in fact. He's just trying to keep Lucas away from him before he does something he'll regret.

Something he'll never be able to take back.

Nathan is sitting in the locker room and thinking about all of this when Tim and his teammates walk up to him.

"So what are we gonna do about this guy?" Tim asks, referring to Lucas. "Two games and suddenly he's Mr. Bigshot. He even stole your position from you."

Nathan chuckles. Yeah, that one didn't go over so well with Dan.

_"So I hear Whitey gave your spot to Lucas," Dan says, sitting as Nathan walks by the living room. "Do you even care that it's all slipping away? All the plans we've made and the work we've done?"_

_"You mean all the plans you made and all the work I've done," Nathan replies. _

_"Fine then, quit the team then. Hell, go ahead and quit school for that matter! I might give you a job at the dealership where you can spend your life haggling over free floor mats with losers with bad credit, and that's if I give you the job! Is that the kind of life you want?!" Dan yells, getting up and standing right in front of Nathan. _

_"You have to let me know if you still want this," Dan says._

_"I do," Nathan says. _

_"Alright then. So about this new kid, if he's taken your position, then he's no longer your teammate, is he? He's your opponent. Identify his weaknesses and attack them."_

And Nathan intends to do just that. Not for his dad, but for himself.

To keep himself safe.

"We're gonna make him wish he never joined the team," Nathan replies, which gets him a smile from each of his teammates. "Haze the shit out of him until he folds."

And haze Lucas they did.

It started out with small things, like soaking his uniform (_ which smelled so good_) before practice, and putting itching powder in his shorts. From there it escalated. They trashed the Rivercourt to try and break his spirit, but it didn't. They even kidnapped him; took him to a secluded field outside of town and threw him into a huge puddle of muddy water (_his wet clothes were really sparking Nathan's imagination)_, where the hazing normally ends, but it didn't. Lucas still wasn't folding.

"We need to come up with something else," Nathan says, walking with Tim to his truck after practice. Suddenly he remembers the fact that Lucas has been waiting to shower until everyone else left practice. Probably afraid they'd do something to him. "He should be in the shower by now, let's steal his clothes!"

"You have fun man, I'm tired of this shit," Tim says. "I hate to say it, but we lost. Unfortunately, he's here to stay."

"Whatever," Nathan says. "You do what you want, but I'm not stopping until he's off the team." Nathan turns to walk back towards the locker room.

"Good luck!" Tim says, laughing.

Leaving Tim, Nathan walks into the empty locker room and hears water running in the shower room.

Perfect.

He walks over to the showers and sees - Oh.

_Oh_.

He didn't think this through very well. There's Lucas standing with his back to him, completely naked. It's taking all of Nathan's will power not to jump his bones right here.

_Damn_, what a body.

Crap, he has to stop staring before he's caught. Spotting Lucas's clothes, he grabs them and runs into the school hallway. Once he get's there he stops in his tracks, realizing..

None of this is helping him at all.

He slumps against a locker and falls to the ground, tears streaming down his face. He puts his hands behind his head, sobbing uncontrollably. His feelings aren't going anywhere, no matter how hard he tries, and Lucas is never going to leave the team.

What is he going to do?

"Nathan?"

Nathan looks up and sees that the voice belongs to Lucas's best friend he's always hanging around. The tutor girl.

"Are those Lucas's clothes?!" Tutor girl asks, pointing to the clothes lying on the floor next to him.

Wiping his eyes, he stands up and walks over to her.

"Here, make sure he gets these, will you?" Nathan asks, handing her Lucas's clothes. "And don't tell Lucas about this. Please?"

She nods apprehensively.

Giving her a slight smile, Nathan walks away, wanting nothing more than to be away from this spot.

As he got in his truck, an idea hit him like a ton of bricks.

_Tutor girl. _

Tutor girl can get Lucas to quit.

—

Nathan has probably been standing outside of the tutoring office for five minutes now, working up the nerve to go in. This has to go perfectly. If he doesn't earn tutor girl's trust, he can never ask her to make Lucas quit.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Hey," he says, pushing the door open. Tutor girl gives him a look of disgust.

"Can I help you?" She asks.

"I hope so. You're my tutor," Nathan responds.

"Right. I don't think so," She says, turning back to her paperwork.

"You're Haley James, right?" Nathan asks her, handing her a blue piece of paper.

After looking it over, she thrusts it back to him. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm best friends with Lucas, and he's told me about all of the terrible things you've done."

"I really need your help," Nathan says. This is not going well at all.

"Forget it, okay? I'll find you somebody else," Haley says.

"There is nobody else. I'd be fine with it if there was," Nathan says.

"If there _were_," Haley corrects.

"See? You're helping me already."

"Look, I can't help you, and on top of that, I won't help you. Okay?" Haley says, shoving him aside and walking out of the room.

Well, he royally fucked that up, but he has to keep trying.

Later that night, he calls up to Karen's Cafe after finding out that's where she works.

"Karen's Cafe," Haley answers.

"I'm calling for Haley James," He says.

"This is her," She responds.

"Hey, it's Nathan Scott," He says. "I really need your help."

"Sorry, wrong number," Haley says, abruptly hanging up the phone before Nathan can stop her.

This girl is persistent.

The next day in class, Nathan gets his English exam back.

He failed it. Shocker.

Before leaving school, he's going to try one last time to get Haley to tutor him. If not, he's basically fucked.

He knocks on the door to the tutoring office before stepping inside. Luckily Haley was in there already.

"I just wanted to stop by to let you know I'm gonna be fine," Nathan tells her.

"Good for you," Haley says.

"F is for fine, right?" Nathan asks, holding up his failed English exam so she can see. As he turns to leave, Haley stops him

"Wait, wait!" She says, sighing and running her hands through her hair. "I'll help you."

"Awesome!" Nathan says, turning towards her and smiling.

"But I have two conditions. One, Lucas cannot know about this. And two, you leave him the hell alone. Deal?"

"Deal."

—


	7. Chapter 7

"I can't believe we're actually going to this thing," Haley sighs, sitting in the passenger seat of the Keith Scott Auto Body tow truck.

"Why not?" Lucas asks her.

He's dragging her along with him to a party at Nathan's beach house that he was surprisingly invited to.

_"Two decent games in a row. Getting better or are you just lucky?" Nathan asks Lucas, walking up to him after the game they just won. _

_"Team's got a party tonight at my parent's beach house."_

_"And why are you telling me?" Lucas asks him, completely confused. Seems like Nathan's actually being nice for once, and his heart is doing backflips. _

_This whole Nathan hating him thing isn't going very well._

_"Because I said the team, didn't I?" Nathan answers. "Look, I know things haven't exactly been the best between us, but we might as well deal with it."_

"So they kidnap you, trash the Rivercourt, and threaten you with bodily harm… party. Hm, sure, why not?" Haley says sarcastically. She makes a valid point, but Lucas can't exactly say no to Nathan. It isn't that easy for him.

"Maybe he's had a change of heart, Hales," Lucas says.

"That would require a heart," Haley quips.

Things have changed for Lucas since his one on one match with Nathan. He no longer wants to hurt him or steal Peyton from him, because of the look on his face that night… he thinks that maybe, just maybe, Nathan is scared of the same thing he is. That's why Lucas put up with all of the stupid hazing; perhaps that was just Nathan's way of dealing with it. He can't blame him; this whole thing is scary as hell.

In fact, he's never been more afraid of anything than going to this party. However, all of this is probably just wishful thinking on his part.

Finally, they see the beach house in the distance. Lucas's heart is practically about to beat out of his chest.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Haley asks, eyeing him curiously.

"Of course," He lies. He wants to throw the truck in reverse, but doesn't.

He has to face his brother eventually.

Parking the truck on the side of the street, they get out and walk towards the house.

Lucas looks and sees Peyton pull up as well, along with her best friend Brooke.

He remembers his initial encounter with Brooke…

_Lucas gets in his car, completely exhausted from the game he just played. It was his first winning game, and he even made the game-winning shot. He was feeling pretty damn proud of himself._

_Before he can even buckle himself in, a pair of hands cover his eyes. _

_"Guess who?" A raspy female voice asks from the backseat._

_"Tim?" Lucas jokes._

_"Very funny," The girl says. "Guess again."_

_"I think you have the wrong car," Lucas tells her._

_Finally, the girl removes her hands, letting Lucas get a look at her. She's wearing nothing but her bra and a thong. Lucas suddenly feels like he should get out of the car._

_"Brooke Davis," She says. "Nice to meet you, Lucas Roe. Good game tonight."_

_"Thanks.. um, are you sure you don't need a jacket or something?" Lucas asks her, growing more uncomfortable by the second._

_"Nope, I was just trying to change out of my uniform," She says, reaching behind her back and unclipping her bra. _

_"Oops," She says, dropping her bra on the floor. _

_Suddenly someone starts tapping on his window; Brooke shrieks and hurries to puts her head down, trying to hide from whoever's outside the car. _

_It was Coach Whitey. Lucas wishes he can be anywhere but in this car right now._

_Rolling down the window, Lucas asks "What's up, Coach?"_

_"Just wanted to say you did a good job tonight," Whitey tells him. "But don't think you're a pro yet. Start dragging your scrawny butt to the weight room twice a day, starting now."_

_"Will do," Lucas answers, smiling sheepishly. _

_"Oh, and, you have a naked girl in your backseat. Just thought you'd like to know," Whitey says, smirking and tipping his hat before walking away._

_Busted._

_He rolls his window back up, and Brooke sits up, looking freaked out._

_"That was awkward. I've never shown an old man my boobs before…," Brooke says. _

_"Well I've never had a naked girl in my backseat, so tonight's a first for both of us," Lucas says, laughing._

_"So, anyways… you're totally in now, because of that shot. Did you feel it change?"_

_"Feel what change?" Lucas asks her, thoroughly confused. _

_"Everything. I mean, how many moments in your life can you point to and say 'yup, that's when it all changed?'" She asks him, leaning on his shoulder now._

_Actually, Lucas can think of another one. _

_Finding out Nathan was his brother._

_"_I wasn't sure you'd come."

Nathan's voice pulls Lucas out of his memory. Honestly, he wasn't so sure either.

"That makes two of us, actually," Lucas responds.

"Well, I'm glad you did," Nathan says, smiling slightly at Lucas before turning his attention to Haley. "Hey, Hayley." He nods at her, then turns and begins to walk up the steps to the front door.

"Hey.. Nathan," Haley forcibly responds, looking at the ground and scratching her head.

What the hell was that? Do they know each other?

"What was that, Hales?" Lucas asks her, raising one eyebrow.

"Oh my gosh, did you hear that? I think the vodka is calling my name," Haley says, shuffling away from Lucas as quickly as she can into the house.

Smooth.

"I know where you live!" Lucas calls after her, following her up the steps.

"Wanna know where I live, hot stuff?" Brooke asks him, linking her arm around his.

"Let me have a couple drinks and get back to you," Lucas quips, smirking.

"What's that mean?" Brooke asks, slightly offended.

"It means 'no,' Brooke," Peyton says.

Once they're inside, Lucas searches for Haley. He has to know what the hell that was between her and Nathan outside. He finds her holding a drink in the living room, admiring the beach house.

"Snazzy place," She says, avoiding Lucas's death glare.

"Hales. What was that?" Lucas asks her again.

"What?" She asks, taking a sip of her drink and smiling at him.

"You know what."

"Okay, okay. I'm tutoring him," Haley tells him. "Please don't hate me."

And she didn't tell him this, why?

"How long has this been going on? You know how I feel about him," Lucas says. Of course she doesn't know how he _really_ feels about him, but still. For all intents and purposes, Haley thinks that Lucas hates Nathan.

"A week or so… and hey, weren't you just the one saying he had a change of heart?" She asks him. Damn it, she has a point.

"Just.. be careful," Lucas says.

_And for the love of god, don't touch him._

"I will, I promise," Haley tells him, crossing her heart.

They spent the next hour or so standing against a wall, sipping their drinks and people watching. Nathan also seemed to be avoiding him like the plague.

"So, I know you're having the time of your life," Haley begins, "but can we make like a raven and fly the hell out of here?"

"We just got here," Lucas answers. He isn't giving up that easily; he's talking to Nathan at some point tonight.

Eventually.

Maybe.

"Well, when you're done proving your point, let me know. I'm going to go hangout in one of the five million bathrooms in this place," Haley says, taking her drink and walking away.

Since he's now alone, he can't stand against the wall anymore without looking like a freak. He starts walking around, random people telling him "good game!" as he passes them.

"Luke! Come play!" Brooke yells at him. She, Peyton, a few guys from the team, and… Nathan were all sitting at a table.

"Sure," Lucas says, pulling up a chair. "What's the game?"

"I never," Brooke answers.

"And yet apparently you have," Peyton teases, no doubt referring their little rendezvous in Lucas's car.

"Shut up, Peyton," Brooke says, laughing and taking a drink.

"So, we all take turns saying something we've never done. If somebody at the table has, they have to drink," Nathan says. "You're up, Theresa."

Nathan points at the little curly headed brunette sitting next to Lucas.

"Hm, I've never… had sex with anything plastic," She says.

To his left, Brooke reluctantly takes a drink, causing everyone to start laughing. She's probably going to lose this game.

"Okay, my turn," Brooke says. "Let's see… I've never.. no wait, I've done that. I've never… shit, I've done that, too…"

"Okay Brooke, you're done," Nathan says, cutting her off. "I got one. I've never… had a dad who wished my mom swallowed me."

Lucas pauses, glaring at Nathan before taking a sip. He should've known this whole party was just another excuse for Nathan to publicly humiliate him. Lucas feels like such a moron, hoping this would be something it's not.

He slides his chair back and gets up. Screw this, he needs to get Haley and get the hell out of here.

After frantically searching most of the house, he can't find her anywhere. Lucas ends up on the back patio, sitting on the porch swing. At least it's quiet out here. He sits out there for quite a while before Haley finds him and sits down next to him.

"What happened? You look like someone just peed in your drink," Haley says.

"Same old shit. Nathan thinks if he keeps hammering me I'll quit the team."

"What did he do?"

"Just made some stupid comment to piss me off," Lucas says, taking a sip out of his cup. "I'm not gonna let it bother me." Lies.

"Yeah, how's that working out for you?" Haley asks.

"Shut up," Lucas says, laughing.

There was silence for a moment, before Haley spoke again: "Hey Luke… have you guys ever actually talked?"

"Sure, all the time. We even traded cell phone numbers, too," Lucas answers jokingly.

"Luke, be serious. I'm just saying, I've talked to him during our tutoring sessions and he's really not a bad guy. This is just a screwed up situation."

Ten points to Haley for _not_ pointing out the obvious. Of course it's screwed up, but it's more screwed up than Haley even realizes. Despite that, Nathan doesn't have to be such an ass.

And why the hell does Lucas still like him, anyway?

"Look, I'm gonna go talk to him," Haley says, getting up from the swing and heading inside.

"Hales, wait!" Lucas calls after her, but she's already long gone. He's left drowning in his thoughts until Peyton joins him outside.

"Sorry about him. He can be an ass," Peyton says, sitting beside him.

"I've noticed," Lucas says. "It's whatever, I could care less what he thinks." More lies.

"Neither can I."

"Then why are you drinking so much?" Lucas asks her.

Peyton shrugs her shoulders and takes a long gulp.

Lucas then hears a bunch of laughter coming from inside. Instead of doing the smart thing and just staying put, he stupidly goes to see what the commotion is about. He notices everyone staring at the tv, and stops dead in his tracks when he sees what they're watching.

He's going to fucking _murder_ Nathan.

It's a video of his mom and Dan in high school, looking like they just won king and queen at some dance.

"So Karen," The voice from the tv says, "what's the secret to your success?"

"Um, the secret to our success? Good question. Hm, Dan?" his mom says.

"Good sex!" Dan responds. If Lucas could ever punch someone's lights out from outside of a tv, now would be that time.

"Do you think you and Dan will ever get married?" The voice asks.

"I'd like to think we will!" Karen says.

"Oh my god, look at their hair," Brooke laughs. "Who's the girl, though?"

Lucas can feel tears welling up in his eyes. "That's my mom."

The room fell silent; nobody was laughing any more. Lucas storms toward Nathan and slams him into the wall before running upstairs into one of the bedrooms. Closing the door behind him, he sits down on the edge of the bed, puts his head in hands and sobs.

Why does Nathan have to be such a fucking jerk? All he was trying to do was be nice to him tonight, but no, nothing is ever that easy with Nathan.

He hears a knock on the door. "Go away, Haley!" Lucas yells in between sobs.

"Actually, it's me."

Lucas looks up and sees Nathan standing in the doorway. "Can I come in?" He asks.

Despite his head telling him to scream no, his heart stupidly makes him say "Yeah."

Nathan walks in the room and closes the door behind him, sitting on the bed next to Lucas.

"What do you want?" Lucas ask him, wiping his eyes.

"To say I'm sorry," Nathan says, turning and looking right at Lucas. "For that; for everything." Lucas doesn't respond.

"Look, you don't have to forgive me, I just wanted to tell you that," Nathan continues. "This hasn't exactly been easy on me."

"Like it has been for me?" Lucas asks him, still completely baffled at the fact Nathan is even having this conversation with him.

"I know, and I've been an ass for not realizing you have your own feelings about all this."

Nathan turns and looks into his eyes. He can sense all of the torment and hurt behind those gorgeous blue irises, much like the desire Nathan can probably see behind his own.

He can also smell all of the alcohol on Nathan's breath. No wonder why he's in here.

"Plus, I'm pretty sure my feelings are way more screwed up than yours," Nathan says.

"Try me," Lucas says.

" 'Kay," Nathan says, still staring right at Lucas. Then, something happens Lucas doesn't expect in the slightest.

Nathan is actually _leaning_ towards him. Lucas barely has time to think before Nathan's lips meet his own.

He has to be dreaming this.

Their lips stay locked for quite a few seconds before Nathan pulls away suddenly.

"Shit; I'm sorry," Nathan says, jumping off the bed and running out of the room before Lucas can even process what just happened.

If he's not dreaming, he's pretty sure…

… Nathan just kissed him.

—-


	8. Chapter 8

"Nathan?! Nathan, wake up!"

"Hm?" He answers. He tries to sit up but can't.

Holy hell; he feels like he's been ran over by a train. He tries to open his eyes, but the sun blinds him, making his headache worse.

"Nathan!" Peyton yells again. She's all the way at ten right now, and Nathan needs her at a two.

"What?! Christ," Nathan responds, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Where the hell is my car?" She asks. Nathan has absolutely no idea what she's talking about.

"Why would I know where your stupid car is?" Nathan responds.

"Because it's not here, and I know the only person stupid enough to take it would've been you," Peyton spits. She can yell all she wants, but he still doesn't know where it is.

In fact, he doesn't even remember what happened last night.

"Are you sure Tim didn't take it or something?"

"Tim?! Why would -"

"Look, I don't know, alright?!" Nathan says. "I just woke up; can you give me like five minutes to get my shit together before we start arguing?"

Peyton glares at him before finally leaving the room without saying a word.

Now that he's not getting yelled at by his psycho girlfriend, maybe he'll be able to concentrate hard enough to remember what the fuck happened last night.

He remembers the basketball game, coming to the party, getting really drunk, playing a home video of Lucas's mom to piss him off….

_Oh my god._

_Lucas._

All of a sudden the memories came flooding back. He remembers being alone in a room with Lucas. They were talking, and then..

.. Nathan kissed him.

He jumps out of bed and runs to the bathroom and starts throwing up; the memories after the kiss coming back to him.

_Nathan frantically runs out of the bedroom after kissing Lucas. He cannot believe he just did that, and now Lucas will probably never speak to him again, and he's also probably going to tell everybody in school about it. _

_Can't say he blames him, though, the way Nathan has been treating him._

_God, why did he kiss him?! It's his own brother, for Christ's sake!_

_He runs past everybody downstairs, heading out the back door towards the dock, where he sees Haley leaning against the railing._

_"What the hell's the matter with you?" Haley asks him."You look like you just saw a ghost."_

_"It's nothing," Nathan lies, still absolutely freaking out on the inside. He's trying to calm himself down but it's not working. "I thought you left after yelling at me."_

_"I tried to, but the stupid cab never came," Haley tells him._

_"I thought you rode with…," Nathan begins, pausing for a moment before continuing,"… Lucas."_

_"I didn't want to interrupt his good time."_

_"I don't think he was having too good of a time….," Nathan says, remembering the look on Lucas's face when the video was playing, and how he was crying when Nathan went upstairs. He feels like the biggest jerk in the world right now._

_And also the biggest idiot for kissing him._

_"What did you do now, Nathan?" Haley sighs, folding her arms. "Were you being an ass to Lucas again?"_

_"Ass is pretty tame, actually," Nathan replies. "I deserve a lot worse than that."_

_They stood in silence for a few moments, before Haley spoke again._

_"Hey.. about this tutoring thing, maybe we should stop," Haley says._

_Maybe they should. If he can't pick his grades up, he'll get kicked off the team. If he gets kicked off the team, he'll be away from Lucas, which would stop him from ever having to look at his face again. After what just happened, he doesn't think he can._

_However, Dan would probably disown him if he quits the team. He can't take that risk._

_"I'm sorry for being such a jerk to him, Haley. I promise I'm done," Nathan says. "I still really need your help, though. I can't get kicked off the team."_

_"I just think it would be easier on Lucas if we stopped," Haley tells him._

_"Please don't give up on me yet, Haley." _

_Suddenly everything that just happened finally hits Nathan, and he starts breaking down in front of Haley, sobbing like an idiot. She immediately wraps her arms around him._

_"Shh, hey, it's okay," Haley says, rubbing his back. "I know this is hard for you, too. I promise I won't give up on you, okay?"_

_"Everything j-just sucks right n-now," Nathan gets out in between sobs. Haley must think he's such a girl. _

_"I know it does, but it'll get better, trust me. I'm sorry you have to go through all of this."_

_Being with Haley like this was strangely comforting to him. More comfortable than Peyton ever made him feel, anyway. _

_And also more normal than Lucas. Maybe Haley can be his way out from all of this. Maybe she can cure him of whatever disease Lucas has infected him with._

_Regaining his composure, Nathan wipes the tears from his eyes, then looks at Haley and smiles._

_"Forget the cab. Do you need a ride home?" He asks her._

_"No, it's fine, really," Haley tells him, smiling._

_"C'mon. We'll take Peyton's car, she won't mind."_

Oops. So it turns out he does know where it is. Shaking his head, still crouched over the toilet, he continues to remember what happened.

_"Please? It's the least I can do," Nathan pleads._

_Finally, Haley nods, proceeding to Peyton's car while Nathan went inside to find the keys. Finding them on the counter, Nathan snatches them up without her noticing and heads to the car to join Haley. _

_The car ride was mostly silent. Nathan glanced over at her and smiled quite a few times, and she smiled back, much to his pleasure. _

_He doesn't like her like that yet, but he feels like he can. At this point, he's willing to do anything it takes to get Lucas out of his head, and Peyton isn't cutting it right now. Plus, Haley has one thing that Nathan absolutely loves._

_She isn't a fucking blonde. Every time he sees Peyton's hair it reminds him of Lucas._

_"This is my stop," Haley says as they pull up to her house. "Yeah, we're staying here while we renovate the mansion."_

_"I wasn't trying to show off," Nathan tells her, smirking._

_"Isn't that your default setting?" Haley asks him, laughing. "Sorry."_

_"So hey, what I said back there, I really did mean it. I need you, Haley. Without you, I'm off the team. Basketball is the only thing I'm really good at, and it's about to get ripped away from me. Not to mention it would crush my dad, too."_

_"Don't worry. Like I said, I'm not giving up on you," Haley responds. "Alright, I gotta go before my mom has a conniption fit. Thanks again for the ride."_

_She smiles at him before getting out the car. Waiting for her to get inside, Nathan speeds off to the nearest liquor store. He needs to drink his memory of tonight away._

_He goes to Tree Hill Liquor and Spirits, finds the biggest bottle of vodka he can, flashes his fake id to the cashier, and takes a couple shots before even pulling out of the parking lot. _

_On his way back to the party, he switches the radio on, only to hear Peyton's shitty music blasting through the speakers. He scowls and turns to try and find something decent to listen to in the backseat._

_"She has to have something good in this car," Nathan says, not paying attention to the road at all._

_Finding a CD, he turns around and realizes he's heading straight for a car parked on the side of the street._

_"Whoa!" Nathan yells, swerving to the right as quickly as he can. He was too slow, though, because he still scraped the side of the car, taking it's mirror off. Then the car swerves out of control, veering right into a tree._

_Peyton is going to kill him._

_As he's sitting there, he sees a familiar truck pull up behind him: the Keith Scott Auto Body truck._

_This has to be some sort of sick joke._

_"Peyton! Peyton, are you okay?!" Lucas asks, jumping out of the tow truck and running towards the wrecked car. Nathan stumbles out, liquor in hand, trying not to look at Lucas's face._

_"She's fine, but her car isn't," Nathan answers. _

_"Nathan? What the hell are you doing with Peyton's car?" Lucas asks. _

_"Liquor run," He answers, still not looking Lucas in the face. _

_Fuck this, he's going to just walk back to the party. He doesn't want to be anywhere near Lucas right now, because he's even more drunk, and he won't stop at a kiss._

_Nathan turns and begins to walk away from the scene._

_"You can't just walk away from this!" Lucas yells after him._

_"Watch me," Nathan responds, taking a swig from his bottle._

_"I'm not just talking about the car, Nathan," Lucas says._

_Nathan winces; he knows exactly what Lucas is referring to. He turns to face him and sees Lucas is crying again._

_Damn it._

_"I don't know what you're talking about."_

_"Bullshit," Lucas spits._

_"Look, nothing happened, okay?! And if you go around telling anybody otherwise, I'm going to make sure I tell everyone you wrecked Peyton's car."_

_"What? No one is going to buy that shit, Nathan," Lucas responds._

_"Really? But I was with Tim all night, and that's exactly what he'll say if anybody asks," Nathan says. "So, it's our word against yours. How do you think that's gonna go down? Because all I see right now is a wrecked car… and you."_

_And with that, Nathan turns and resumes walking back to the party._

_Why? Why does this have to be so fucking hard?!_

_Nathan hates being the cause of Lucas's pain. He should be comforting him, not making him cry, but they can't be together like that. Ever. _

_It isn't fair. _

_One thing's definitely for sure, though._

_Nathan is never getting drunk around Lucas ever again._

_—-_

Typical. Fucking typical.

Lucas is gripping the wheel of the tow truck so tightly right now that his hands are white.

_Nathan's_ the one that kissed _him_ and now Nathan's going to act like nothing happened. Not only that, but he's also leaving Lucas to clean up the mess he made.

Good thing for Nathan that Lucas still wants to kiss him, otherwise he would freaking _strangle_ him right now. Not only does he have to face his Uncle Keith (who's _pissed_ at Lucas for not calling the cops), but he had to take the blame for the car that Nathan sideswiped, leaving a note and saying it was his fault.

As for the kiss… all it did was confuse Lucas even more. Yeah, it was fucking fantastic, but it just left him with questions. Does Nathan feel the same way? Was he just drunk? There is no plausible answer he can come up with, and then he also feels bad about Peyton. It isn't fair to her at all.

"Damn it!" Lucas yells, slamming his hands on the steering wheel.

He arrives at Keith's shop and sees a very angry Keith standing right in front of the garage door.

"Hit and run, huh?" Keith asks, walking towards Lucas as he gets out of the truck. If a glare could kill, Lucas would be dead right now. "Just beautiful. I could lose my license for this."

"I didn't know what else to do," Lucas defends. "He just walked away."

"What is it with you and him, huh? You're willing to break the law for him? No one is worth that," Keith says.

"He's my brother; even if he's an ass I don't want to see him thrown in jail," Lucas says. Nathan better be glad he's defending him right now.

"And what about the guy's car he hit? Does he just get screwed over?"

"I left him a note saying I did it, and told him to come here and get it fixed," Lucas answers. Keith snorts out of anger.

"Well that's just great, Lucas. You know I'm already having trouble pulling in customers as it is," Keith spits.

"Look, I'll do all the work myself, and even pay for the materials!" Lucas says.

"Damn right you will," Keith says before rubbing his forehead. "Boy, your mom is gonna love this." Lucas blinks like someone shined a flashlight in his eyes.

Nope, it was just his life flashing before his eyes.

"You're not gonna tell her, are you?" Lucas asks, the panic in his voice very audible.

"No, you are. And if you don't, then I'll tell her, because you're not getting away with this scot free," Keith says. Finally, his anger subsides a little bit, and he pats Lucas on the shoulder. "C'mon. Cover the car and I'll give you a ride home."

Lucas nods, going to cover up Peyton's car. Before he does, he notices a very familiar green hat lying on the passenger seat.

Haley's hat.

—-


	9. Chapter 9

"Peyton, don't hate me, but I remember what happened to your car," Nathan says apprehensively, walking down the steps of his beach house.

Peyton doesn't respond; instead she just crosses her arms and glares at him. Even though he's afraid she's going to murder him, he continues.

"I… wrecked it last night."

"You did what?!" Peyton screams, standing from the couch and looking like she was about to rip his head off.

"It was an accident!" Nathan says, putting his hands up and backing away from her.

"No, you know what was an accident? Me staying with you for all this time, thinking that you were going to grow up. But you haven't. You're still the immature little prick you were when we first started dating." Ouch. "The truth is Nathan, you're just an asshole, and I wan't no part of it. The way you treated your brother -"

"Don't call him that," Nathan says, his heart stinging at the sound of that name.

" - and the way you're playing that girl."

"Who, Haley?! She doesn't mean anything!" Nathan yells. Did she see them last night on the dock?

"Well in that case, you're an ass. Even if you're lying and she _does_ mean something, you're still an ass, and what's really sad Nathan, is that you're too stupid to get that. So, thank you for being such an amazing son of a bitch last night, you've really made this a no brainer."

Peyton rips the necklace off of her neck and throws it at him

"This is the necklace I gave you," Nathan says, catching it and holding it in his hand.

"You mean the leash? Keep it. I mean it, Nathan, we're done," Peyton spits, shoving him as she walks past him. He just stands there and watches as she walks away, leaving Nathan dumbfounded. Clutching her necklace, he sits down on the couch and sighs.

Despite how he's been acting, he still cared for Peyton a lot. Hell, he even loved her once, but that was before.

Before all of this craziness.

He heads home after that, wanting nothing to more than to just lay in bed all day. As he enters the kitchen, his mood instantly lifts.

"Mom!" Nathan says, running up to give his mom Deb a hug. After pulling away, he notices she isn't smiling.

Uh-oh.

"So, wrecking your girlfriend's car and trying to blame it on your brother, huh? Unbelievable, Nathan," She says, giving him a look of complete disappointment.

"M'sorry," Nathan mutters, looking down at his feet.

"You drive drunk, get in an accident, leave the scene of the crime and all you can say is 'sorry?'" Deb asks, her tone rising. She turns to look at Dan, who was sitting at their kitchen table. "Are you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me to say?" Dan asks her, after which she sighs.

"I don't know anymore, but I do know one thing," Deb starts. ", you two have gotten far too comfortable when I'm not around. I'm going to start cutting back on hours at the foundation, and no more travel."

"Come on, Deb, you don't have to do that," Dan scowls.

"Don't sound so disappointed," Deb says.

"Look, if you guys are going to argue, I'm gonna head to my room," Nathan says, trying to sneak away from the kitchen.

"Not so fast, mister!" Deb yells, pointing at him. "First, you're going to go to Lucas and apologize."

She has to be kidding.

"But mom," Nathan whines. Deb isn't having it.

"The only 'but' I wanna see is yours marching straight to Keith's shop. Move," Deb orders, pointing towards the front door.

Scowling, Nathan shuffles out of the kitchen to his truck, wondering how the hell he's going to even be able to look Lucas in the face after last night.

He plays it out in his head a million times on the drive to Keith's, planning on making some grand apology.

All of it goes away when he sees the fury in Lucas's eyes.

"What do you want?" Lucas asks, his anger cracking Nathan like a whip.

"How much is everything going to cost?" is all Nathan can muster.

"I don't know. A lot. Why?" Lucas snaps.

"Give me the invoice when you're done, and my dad will write a check," Nathan offers. What is he doing? He should be apologizing, not using daddy's money to make things better.

He needs to work on his brain to mouth filter. A lot of stuff gets lost along the way.

"No thanks," Lucas responds. God his brother can be stubborn.

"I said we'll pay you. I feel bad for dumping this on you," Nathan says. Lucas might not think so, but he's being sincere.

"Save it, okay? I know you're only here because you have to be. Wanna pay me? Stay away from me," Lucas spits. Feeling a lump in the back of his throat, Nathan nods and turns to walk back to the truck.

"Oh, and stay the hell away from Haley," Lucas adds before turning around himself.

In one day he's managed to get in a car accident, lose his girlfriend, and fuck things up with the one person who matters most to him, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Feeling empty, Nathan calls the one person who can potentially bandage this bleeding heart of his.

"Hey Haley, it's Nate," He says into his cell phone. "You down for some tutoring today?"

—-

"You ass!" Haley says, smacking him on the shoulder. "I thought you said you were gonna be nicer to him!"

If one more person yells at him today, he might lose it.

"I was drunk, stupid, and I feel like total shit about it, can we not talk about it anymore?" Nathan sighs, opening his math book. "Believe it or not, I'd rather study."

He pulls a box of Cracker Jacks out of his back pack. "Breakfast of champions," He says, pulling the prize out of the box.

"Please let this be a cheat sheet," He jokes, opening the package. It's a tacky kid's bracelet.

"Cute," Haley says, chuckling.

Smiling, Nathan holds the bracelet out to her. "It's for you."

"Stop," Haley says.

"Come on."

Sighing, Haley takes the bracelet and puts it on.

"Don't say I never gave you anything," Nathan says. In response, Haley holds her math book over her face.

"You see this book? This book is me. I am math," Haley says. What?

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asks, puzzled.

"I'm saying that you can try to work your whole "I'm Nathan Scott, Mr. Bigshot, scoring my touchdowns" technique on someone else, because -"

"I don't even play football," Nathan laughs.

"Whatever," Haley says. "The point is, all of your bullshit doesn't mean anything to math because math don't care and neither do I."

"Does English care? Because I really suck at that, too."

"Nathan, focus!" Haley says, pointing to his book in front of him. "I want your eyes there, not here," She says, motioning to her breasts.

"All right, all right," Nathan chuckles. He looks over and sees her smiling, which means that despite what she says, he's getting somewhere.

She isn't Lucas, but she's the best damn band-aid he has.

—-

It's been a week since Lucas has spoken to Nathan. The two of them have been avoiding each other at all costs since the party fiasco, not even looking at each other in practice. Lucas can't bear to have Nathan keep screwing him over; it just hurts too bad. So, he's been going out of his way to be around him as little as possible.

It's supposed to be making things easier, but lately all Lucas can think about is that goddamn kiss, and how good Nathan's lips felt against his..

Lucas was awakened by the sound of someone pounding on his door. He groggily gets up and opens it, seeing a very distraught Haley standing in front of him.

"We need to talk," She blurts out.

"Okay..?" Lucas says, standing aside to let her in. He shuts the door and flips on the light. Haley was standing in front of his closet, pacing. Something must really be bothering her.

"What's going on, Hales?" Lucas asks, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"Um, okay… shit, you're not gonna like this. In fact, you're going to hate this. But I feel like in order to keep being a good friend to you I have to tell you," Haley starts.

"C'mon Hales, what could be worse than you tutoring Nathan?" Lucas asks, jokingly. However, Haley doesn't answer. Instead, she just stands in front of him and sighs, and Lucas suddenly feels like he's deprived of oxygen.

No.

No no no no no no no.

"You like him?" Lucas asks. Please Haley, for the love of all things good, do not say-

"Yes."

If he's alive, he can't tell. Haley definitely just obliterated him from existence.

What the hell is he supposed to say to her?! "No, sorry, you can't like him because, actually, I like him. You know; the friend code and stuff." No, if he says that, she'll never speak to him again, and he can't bear to be in a world without Nathan _and_ Haley. He has no choice but to let this happen. Plus, at least with Haley his brother has a chance at being normal, because if he and Nathan ever did end up together, Nathan's life would be filled with nothing but hardship and isolation.

Plus, if he has to see Nathan with anybody besides himself, he'd rather it be his best friend. At least then she'll be happy.

"What are you brooding about? You're freaking out, aren't you? Damn, I knew I shouldn't have said anything," Haley says, running towards the door. Haley can see right through him sometimes.

Scary.

"Hales, wait," He says, stopping her in her tracks. "I… understand, okay? Sometimes you develop feelings for people, and you just can't help it." He should've stopped there, but out of some morbid curiosity, he continues. "But… what do you see in him, anyway?"

"I dunno, different stuff," Haley answers, shrugging. "Underneath the rough exterior, he's actually really sweet. I know he can be a royal prick, but I'm telling you, that's just a defense mechanism."

His defenses must be on high alert every time Lucas is around him, then.

"Just… be careful, okay?" Lucas tells her, forcing the best smile he can possibly muster right now.

"I will, promise," Haley says. "And don't worry, I won't let anybody come between us. Friends forever, right?"

"Right," Lucas says.

—

**A/N: Ugh! I wish these two would just admit they like each other already! **

**But what kind of writer would I be if I made it that easy?**

**I know, I'm a terrible person. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

Alright! Quiet down!" Whitey yells from the front of the school bus. "This is our first away game. For those of you who don't know, just sit there with your mouths shut and focus. I'll choose the music."

Whitey holds up a cassette tape and smirks. This can't be good.

"Tonight's theme is defense," Whitey says, putting the cassette tape in the music player. Some terrible classical music starts to play.

Groaning, Lucas grabs the mix cd Peyton made him for being there for her during her breakup with Nathan (_even if she's not the one he wanted to be comforting_), pops it in his cd player, and puts his earbuds in. Glancing over at Nathan, Lucas notices he's doing the same.

Turning to look out the window, Lucas scowls when he remembers that Nathan invited Haley to come watch the game. He's really trying to be happy about the fact that his best friend has a crush on somebody, but he just can't. Plus, if Nathan invited Haley, that means he might like her, too.

Sighing, Lucas grabs his copy of _Of Mice and Men_ out of his bag, hoping that a book will take his mind off of everything.

It doesn't.

About an hour later, they finally pull up to Pickerington High. Glancing around, Lucas feels like he's in an episode of _Dukes of Hazzard._ His teammates weren't kidding when they said the Pickerington Pirates should be called the Pickerington Hicks instead.

Walking through the hallways of the school, Lucas hears a couple of the Pirates boys shouting insults.

"Awe, look, if it isn't the Tree Hill Ravens!"

"We're gonna make these little birdies caw tonight, aren't we boys?"

"Hey, don't you guys have a pig pen to play around in? I hear those are the type of women you hicks normally go for," Nathan yells back from behind him.

Hurrying into the locker room before they get beat up, they all change and take to the court. When they get there, Lucas sees Nathan give Haley a nod, and Haley smiles and waves back.

This isn't going to be an easy game for him. Not only does he have to put up with seeing those two eye fuck each other, but Brooke won't stop ogling him from the sidelines, and it's really beginning to creep him out.

The Ravens take the lead pretty early on in the game, completely crushing the Pirates by the start of the second quarter. Everything seems to be going fine until Nathan smacks the ball out of another player's hands. The referee blows his whistle; it's a foul.

Suddenly Nathan is right in his face.

"Hey, it's called defense, why don't you try it out sometime?" Nathan spits.

"Why don't you try not getting fouled?" Lucas retorts. He's the one that just fouled; why the hell is he coming after Lucas?

Amidst their bickering, the Pirates score a basket. Goddamn it, Nathan.

"Hey, are you gonna talk or are you gonna play, daddy's boy?" Lucas yells. Nathan turns and smirks in response.

"Haley's looking pretty fine tonight, right? Can't wait to get with that," Nathan says.

Lucas is going to kill him.

The referee throws the ball to him, which he chucks at Nathan, hitting him in the back. Nathan spins around and tackles Lucas. They accidentally knock Brooke over in the process, landing right on top of her leg, causing her to yell out in pain.

So this is what it's come to, the two of them fighting each other during a basketball game. Lucas has no idea how it's gotten this bad.

Before he has time to think about it, Nathan socks him in the face. Lucas punches him back, the whole right side of his face now throbbing with pain.

"Hey, cut it out!" He can hear Whitey yell over the referee's whistle. The ref comes over and pulls them apart.

"You two, you're out of here!" The referee yells at them.

Great.

"You're throwing them both out?! They're on the same team!" Whitey yells at the ref, but the referee wasn't backing down. Left with no choice, Lucas and Nathan head back to the bus, sitting as far apart from each other in complete silence.

Okay, this is starting to get way out of hand. Either they're going to talk about the thing that happened between them, or things will never get better.

Turning around to look at Nathan, Lucas tries to talk to him.

"Hey Nate, look - " Lucas begins, but Nathan cuts him off.

"Don't talk to me," Nathan says, looking out the window with his arms folded.

"Come on, man," Lucas tries again.

"I said don't talk to me," Nathan spits, still not looking at Lucas.

Well, he tried.

And so they sat in silence. Even when the team and Whitey got back on the bus, nobody said anything. Hell, Whitey wouldn't even look at him.

About thirty minutes into their ride home, the bus jerks to a stop. Lucas glances towards the front to see what's going on and sees Whitey get up from his seat.

This can't be good.

"Lucas Roe and Nathan Scott, on your feet!" Whitey yells. Lucas has never heard Whitey this mad before.

He and Nathan reluctantly stand up.

"Congratulations boys, because in all my years of coaching, this has got to be a new low. That little stunt you pulled almost lost us our winning streak! Now I don't give a didlee-squat about your daddy issues or your girlfriends. In fact, you two can hate each other until hell freezes over for all I care, but when you're playing on my team, you're going to learn to work together."

"I don't see that happening, Whitey," Nathan says.

"Is that so?" Whitey responds. "Well, in that case, you have about thirty miles to figure it out." They're on a secluded road that's surrounded by trees in the middle of nowhere. Whitey can't possibly leave them here…

… is what Lucas thought until he's standing with Nathan on the road, watching the school bus pull away.

Apparently Whitey _can_ leave them here.

"This is great, just friggin' great," Nathan says, pacing back and forth and doing everything to avoid looking at Lucas.

"Will you calm down?" Lucas tries.

"You calm down, man! My phone's on that bus! My wallet's on that bus!"

"My stuff's on there, too!" Lucas says.

"Well… well what do we do now?" Nathan asks, now looking directly at him.

"Start walking, I guess," Lucas says. Nathan nods, and they start walking towards Tree Hill.

Finally, the two of them can agree on something.

They walked along in silence for a few minutes before Nathan starts up again.

"This wouldn't of happened if you hadn't joined the team," Nathan says. Not this again…

"No, we wouldn't be out here if you weren't such an ass about me joining the team," Lucas retorts. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

"I.. have my reasons," Nathan answers, looking down at the ground.

"And those are?" Lucas asks.

"Just reasons, okay?" Nathan says, looking more uncomfortable by the second. Lucas guess's he's not really good at talking about his feelings.

"Would those reasons have something to do with why you kissed me?" Lucas asks him.

"Look, would you just stop bringing that up?" Nathan says, grabbing Lucas by the arm and pulling him to a stop. "I was really drunk and caught up in the moment."

"Is this you finally admitting that it happened?" Lucas asks, smirking.

"No, I'm… shut up," Nathan growls. Lucas can tell that he's blushing. Maybe he really does feel the same way.

Before Lucas can find out, an old dirty blue colored car pulls up on the road in front them.

"Hey Ravens, you need a ride?" A boy from the car yells at them.

Nathan looks at Lucas and shrugs, and then starts walking towards the car. This has to be some sort of trap.

"I wouldn't take that ride if I were you," Lucas tells him.

"Well, you're not," Nathan responds. Suddenly Nathan gets pulled into the backseat. Damn it, Lucas knew this was a setup. Running to the car, Lucas sees Nathan sitting between two members of the Pickerington Pirates.

"Two little Ravens for the price of one," the one nearest to Lucas says, smirking. "Get in or the superstar dies."

_Touch him and you'll die_.

Left with no other choice, Lucas climbs into the backseat, sitting next to Nathan in between the two Pirates. The car speeds off. They drive for about ten minutes before pulling up to a gas station.

"Well, this is my stop. Thanks fellas," Nathan says. Lucas nudges him with his leg to get him to shut the hell up. He's gotten them into enough trouble.

"This one's funny, Thing. Let's kill him last," the guy next to Lucas says to the driver.

"Wait, your name is Thing?" Nathan asks the driver.

"That's right; Thing," Thing responds.

"And I'm Thing One," The guy next to Lucas says.

Looking over at the guy next to Nathan, Lucas says "And let me guess, you're Thing Two?"

"Nope. I'm Thing Three, because I'm the third," Thing Three responds.

They've managed to get themselves kidnapped by a bunch of morons.

As Lucas starts to chuckle, Thing is pointing a gun at them.

"Whoa dude!" Nathan yells, putting his hands up.

"Take your clothes off," Thing orders. "You have some shopping to do."

Correction: they've managed to get themselves kidnapped by a bunch of perverted morons.

"You can't be serious," Lucas says.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Thing says, pointing the gun directly at Lucas's face.

"Easy man," Nathan says. "We'll do whatever you want, okay?"

"That's what I thought. In your boxers, now," Thing says sternly.

Lucas and Nathan both remove their clothing while Thing starts writing something down on a piece of paper. As if things weren't uncomfortable enough being smashed right next to Nathan, he's now in his boxers right next to Nathan… who is also in his boxers.

If Lucas gets a boner, he might throw himself into traffic.

"Here you go girls," Thing says, handing Lucas the piece of paper; it's a shopping list. "Now hurry up, we have some beer to drink."

Climbing over Thing Three, Lucas and Nathan proceed into the gas station, getting plenty of creeped out looks from the other customers. Lucas is trying extremely hard not to check Nathan out right now.

_Damn_ he looks good without a shirt on, though. Normally Lucas doesn't care for nipple piercings, but Nathan pulls his off.

Shit, he has to stop before he gives the entire gas station a show.

"Okay, first thing is… hemorrhoid ointment," Lucas says, reading off of the list. Nathan sighs.

"This is such crap," Nathan says. "And these guys are way too dense to kill anybody. I bet it's not even a real gun."

"Let's just play their stupid game so we can get our clothes and get home," Lucas says. Nathan nods, sighing and grabbing the ointment off of the shelf in front of them.

"Okay, next on the list is two bottles of spring feminine cleansers," Lucas says.

"So the hicks have a sense of humor," Nathan says, grabbing them off the shelf. "What's next?"

"A case of beer and we're out of here," Lucas says.

"My fake's in my wallet. How the hell are we gonna pull that off?" Nathan sighs.

"Dude, would you card us? Honestly," Lucas jokes.

"Good point," Nathan responds, chuckling.

At least Lucas got him to smile, if nothing else.

As he suspected, the cashier didn't check for their ids. Handing the cashier the cash, he and Nathan walk back to the car and get inside. Thing snatches their bag and rifles through it.

"Awesome, they scored the beer," Thing says.

"Where's the porn?" Thing Three asks.

Correction number two (or three by the Things' logic): horny and perverted morons. Lucas is starting to get really annoyed by these idiots.

"Okay, you had your fun. Can we have our clothes back now?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah, I'm done with these clowns. Let's go get waisted," Thing One says.

"With no porno mags?!" Thing Three asks, sounding extremely disappointed.

"Sorry, they didn't have Playgirl," Nathan quips. Thing Three looks like he's about to say something but stops, listening out the window.

"Shit, it's the cops. Move, move, move!" Thing Three yells. Thing turns the car on and peels out of the parking lot. They can see the flashing lights coming up behind them. Suddenly Thing swerves onto a side road that's surrounded by a bunch of trees. Everyone ducks, and the police fly by, not noticing them.

"Hell yeah, baby!" Thing yells.

"Whoo, yeah! Alright! Yahoo! Give us back our clothes," Lucas says. If he doesn't get out of this car soon he's going to go insane. He can feel his IQ going down every second he's around one of these morons.

"Don't they say 'please' in Tree Hill?" Thing asks, pointing the gun at Lucas again. Suddenly Nathan snatches the gun from him and points it back in his face.

"He said give us our clothes, you fucking hick," Nathan snaps. All three Things start laughing. Nathan studies the pistol a little and then sighs. "It's a starter pistol. I knew this stupid thing was fake."

"Yeah, but our fists aren't," Thing One says.

"Look, we'll give you guys your clothes back, and even give you a ride home. But first, you have to do something for us," Thing Three says.

"And what's that?" Lucas asks.

The Things drag them out of the car and shove them forward. They all sit down on the hood of the car and cross their arms.

"Since we don't have any porno mags, we're gonna sit back and drink our beers while we watch you two make out. Then, you're gonna blow us," Thing says.

They can't be serious.

"You guys can go screw yourself, because there's no way in hell we're gonna -"

Lucas can't even finish his sentence before Nathan pulls him into a kiss, trying to tongue his way into Lucas's mouth. Caught off guard, Lucas's lips don't budge, but soon he grabs onto Nathan's waist and pulls him closer, meeting Nathan's tongue with his own. Nathan moans and then starts to gently nudge Lucas in the direction of the car.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," Thing Three says. The three of them move from their spot on the hood.

Nathan pushes Lucas against the car, careful not to break their lips apart. Suddenly he picks Lucas up by the legs and slams him onto the hood. Lucas wraps his legs around Nathan, and Nathan starts grinding against him, causing Lucas's dick to go hard in an instant.

If this is a dream, Lucas doesn't ever want to wake up.

This goes on for a few more seconds before Nathan suddenly jumps up and snatches the keys out of the ignition.

Oh, so that's why he started making out with him. Is it bad he's slightly disappointed?

"Morons," Nathan says, holding the keys up for the Things to see. Lucas gets up and stands beside him, and notices…

Holy shit, Nathan is _hard_, too.

"Now give us back our clothes," Nathan says.

"Fine," Thing says, throwing them a sock.

"Oh, so you wanna play games? Okay then, let's play one. It's called keys for clothes. You give us a piece of our clothes, and we'll give you a key," Nathan says.

"Forget it," Thing says.

"Fine. We were walking anyways," Nathan says, arching his arm over his head like he's going to throw the keys.

"Wait, wait, wait!" The Things yell.

"You got yourselves a deal," Thing One says.

"Perfect. Now give him his sweats," Nathan says. Thing One grabs Lucas's sweatpants and throws it to him.

"That's worth a house key," Nathan says, chucking a key in their direction while Lucas pulls his sweatpants on.

This goes back and forth for a while until the only thing they're missing is Nathan's shirt. Lucas glances and sees Nathan has only the car key left.

"Last key. Give me my shirt," Nathan orders.

"Give us the key and you'll get your shirt," Thing says.

"It's whatever, I can live without it," Nathan says, smirking. He turns and chucks the key into the woods. He and Lucas take off running in the opposite while the Things start running towards the keys. Then Nathan yanks on Lucas's arm and pulls him down to the ground, probably to make sure the Things don't see them.

"I can't believe you just kissed me again," Lucas says.

"Hey, it got us out of there, didn't it?" Nathan responds. Lucas can tell how red his face is getting even in this darkness. Noticing Nathan is shivering from the cold, Lucas takes off his hoodie and hands it to Nathan.

"Here," Lucas says.

"Thanks," Nathan says, pulling the sweatshirt on.

"So what's the master plan? Are you going to hotwire the car?"

"We won't have to," Nathan says, holding up the car key and smiling.

This clever bastard.

"C'mon. I'll drive," Nathan says.

The two of them get up and run back towards the car, climbing into it as quickly as possible. Nathan starts the car, and right after Lucas can hear the Things yelling.

Shit, they must've heard the car start.

"Hurry! I think they heard us," Lucas says. Nathan slams on the gas, but all that does is make the tires spin out. Lucas looks out of his window and sees the back tires are completely submerged in mud.

So, they're stuck. Fantastic.

Lucas can hear the voices of the Things getting closer.

"Bail?" Lucas asks, turning to Nathan.

"Bail," Nathan nods, and the two of them jump out of the car and run back into the woods. They find a spot to hideout and lay down on the ground. Guess they just have to wait until those morons get bored and go home.

About an hour goes by, and still, the Things won't give up.

"Ravens! Come out and play!" Lucas can hear them yelling.

Beside him he can hear Nathan shivering from the cold. He was getting pretty cold, himself.

"Hey, come here," Lucas says, motioning for Nathan to cuddle up next to him.

"No, thanks," Nathan responds, still shivering like crazy.

"You're gonna freeze," Lucas says.

"Oh well."

"Just come here Nate," Lucas says. Sighing, Nathan wiggles his way over to Lucas, pressing his back against him. Lucas wraps his arm around Nate and pulls him in closer.

"Thanks," Nathan says.

"So are we ever gonna talk about this?" Lucas asks, nuzzling his nose in Nathan's hair. God he smells amazing.

"What?" Nathan asks, moving himself closer to Lucas.

"Whatever this thing is going on between us," Lucas responds.

"Whatever it is, it's totally freaking me out," Nathan says, laughing.

"Ditto," Lucas laughs. "So, what do we do about it?"

Nathan turns and looks at Lucas. "There's nothing we _can_ do about it, Luke. We're brothers. It's not like we can just start dating each other."

"It isn't fair," Lucas sighs. Nathan leans in closer and gently kisses Lucas on the lips.

"No, it's not. But it doesn't change how I feel about you," Nathan says, smiling.

"And how's that?" Lucas asks, smiling back.

"I don't know, I'm still figuring that part out," Nathan laughs. "I do know one thing, though. I really, really like kissing you."

Nathan pulls him into another kiss, this one more passionate than the last. At this point, Lucas can care less if he ever makes it back to Tree Hill.

"Hey Luke, do you hear that?" Nathan asks, perking his head up.

Lucas tries but can't hear anything.

Wait.

He can't hear anything. The Things finally left!

Smiling, the both of them get up and run towards the road. Finally, they can start walking back home.

"Thanks for keeping me warm back there," Nathan says, looking at Lucas and smiling.

"Anytime," Lucas responds.

Suddenly Lucas can see lights coming from behind them. Turning around, he can see a car coming right in their direction.

"Shit, they might be coming back," Lucas says.

"We can take 'em. I'm sick of running," Nathan says.

As it gets closer, Lucas notices it isn't the Things' crappy car.

It's Brooke's Beetle. What the hell is she still doing out here this late?

The car stops in front of them and Lucas can see Peyton is driving, Haley's in the passenger seat, and Brooke is sitting in back. The three of them are looking at Lucas and Nathan with extremely puzzled looks.

The both of them run up to the car, and Peyton rolls down the windows.

"What the hell happened?" Peyton asks.

"It's a long story, but can we have a ride?" Lucas asks.

So all in one night, he got in a fight with Nathan, got kicked out of the basketball game, got dumped in the middle of nowhere, got kidnapped by idiots, had to go into a gas station in his underwear, almost got raped by said idiots, and finally found out Nathan has feelings for him, whatever they may be.

Yup, Lucas is really glad Whitey kicked him off the bus.

—


	11. Chapter 11

Nathan and Haley are in a study session, and all he can think about is that night...

... And the rest of that night was incredibly awkward.

In the seat of front of him was his ex-girlfriend Peyton, who he's pretty sure can't stand him. Sitting next to her in the front was Haley, his tutor who he was trying to replace Lucas with (is he still trying to? He doesn't know anymore), who kept turning around and glancing at him, so he's pretty sure she likes him. Then in the backseat with him was Brooke, who was high off of some pain killers she stole from the school doctor, and Lucas, his brother who he just kissed less than 30 minutes ago.

Holy hell does he have some issues to work through.

All of this, on top of his dad's annual party he holds for the team sponsors that he has to attend tomorrow, and his huge history exam on Monday, has made Nathan want to just lay in bed and never come out.

As for the whole Lucas thing, Nathan finally knows that Lucas feels the same way. He should be feeling ecstatic about it, but instead he's just fucking scared out of his mind. If they decide to be together, then what? They would literally _never_ be able to be seen together in public, and if someone ever caught them in private they would probably be exiled from Tree Hill. And he can't even imagine what Dan would do to him if he found out. He just can't stop thinking about his lips and how damn good they felt against his, and how amazing it felt to have Lucas holding him. He wants all of that and more, but because of this whole fucked up family situation he can't have it.

"This is so stupid!" Nathan says, hitting and trying to take all of his frustrations out on his history book.

"What did the book ever do to you?" Haley jokes.

"Why do we have to learn history anyway?" Nathan asks, frowning.

"So we aren't doomed to repeat it," Haley says, smirking.

"What?" Nathan asks, chuckling.

"There's a smile!" Haley laughs. "Just don't give up, okay? Tomorrow's a teacher's work day so you have a three-day weekend to study."

"Minus my dad's annual kiss-ass-jamboree," Nathan says. Haley gives him a slight smile and then looks down at her book.

"Hey, I would invite you, Haley, but it's kind of a basketball crowd. You wouldn't have a lot of fun," Nathan tries, noticing how disappointed she looks.

"Oh, please, like I would wanna kiss your dad's ass anyway," Haley says. "So hey, i made you a study kit." She hands Nathan a silver box. "Everything you need to ace your history exam: No-Doze, eye-drops, and number two pencils."

"Thanks Haley, I really don't know what I would do without you," Nathan says, smiling and putting the box in his book bag.

"Crash and burn," Haley quips.

"You know, you could just text me the answers," Nathan tries.

"Oh! Yeah! No," Haley says, getting up from the table. Before she walks away she adds "Give me a call if you need anything. And, thanks for cutting Lucas some slack."

"A deal's a deal, right?" Nathan sighs. He still hasn't spoken to Lucas after the night they got kidnapped. He's just not sure of what to even say. Maybe they should just fuck and get it over with.

Suddenly Nathan perks up. That's a brilliant idea, and the party tomorrow is the perfect time to do it. There's gonna be so many people there that they won't even notice the two of them are gone.

Smiling, Nathan jumps off the bench and runs to find Lucas. He's going to convince him to come to this party tomorrow no matter what. He finds him sitting by himself and reading on one of the many tables outside.

"Hey, are you gonna come to the party tomorrow?" Nathan asks, sitting down across from Lucas.

"Hey Nate," Lucas says, glancing up from his book and smiling. "Probably not. I'd rather spend my evening reading _The Great Gatsby_ than spend my Friday night with Dan."

Nathan isn't giving up that easily.

"Well hey, I actually read a book last night," Nathan says, smirking.

"Oh really?" Lucas laughs.

"Oh yeah. It's about two guys, and they have this really weird vibe thing going on, but there's a bunch of drama because they turn out to be brothers, and their dad is a total ass. So, the whole thing comes to a great big climax at this big party at their evil dad's house," Nathan answers.

"Sounds interesting. What happens in the end?" Lucas asks, blushing.

"Well, you're just gonna have to show up to find out," Nathan teases, winking at Lucas before getting up and walking away.

If that doesn't convince him, nothing will.

Nathan can barely focus in his next few classes, too anxious about tomorrow. In science class, while he's daydreaming about everything he's going to do to Lucas, Brooke throws a piece of paper at him.

"How are you, Nate?" Brooke whispers, leaning forward.

"Bored," He answers

"And lonely, right?" Brooke asks. What is she getting at?

"Brooke, whatever drugs you're on, save them for the party," Nathan says, turning back around to continue scribbling in his notebook.

"Oh, _the party._ Guess who's coming with me? I'll tell you, Peyton," Brooke says, grinning mischievously.

"And I should care, why? She's off my radar and I'm off of hers," Nathan says.

"Well from what she tells me, that's not entirely true," Brooke says.

"She told you that?" Nathan asks. The last thing he needs to ruin his plans is Peyton trying to get back together with him.

"She tells me everything, sweetie," Brooke responds.

"Okay, what are you up to, Brooke?" Nathan asks her, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing! I just want to see two people who are perfect for each other get back together," Brooke says.

"Please," Nathan chuckles. "Me and Peyton were anything but perfect."

After school that day, Nathan checks his phone and sees a text from Lucas.

_Hey. I'll see you tomorrow :-)_

"Yes!" Nathan exclaims, getting him a few weird looks from the people around him. Clearing his throat, he flips his phone shut and heads to his truck.

Tomorrow is going to be amazing.

—

Nathan stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom, furiously combing his hair.

"Come on, damn it," Nathan says, trying his best to get his cowlick to stay down, but it's not cooperating. Sighing, he rifles through the cabinet for his hair gel.

He's going to look damn good for Lucas tonight.

After finally getting his hair the way he wants it, he stands and looks at himself in the mirror. Satisfied, he heads out of the bathroom and goes downstairs.

"Are you okay, honey? You've been in the bathroom for over an hour," Deb asks him, working on Dan's tie.

"My hair was being stupid," Nathan responds.

"Look Deb, we've raised a very fine daughter," Dan chuckles. Before Nathan can say anything Deb smacks Dan in the chest.

"You hush. I want you on your best behavior tonight, okay? Karen, Keith, and Lucas are coming," Deb says, still working on his tie. Dan groans. The displeasure on his face is hilarious.

"Deb, you know how important this party is for me," Dan says, scowling.

"That's funny, I thought this party was for the team," Deb says.

"So you go behind my back and turn it into my worst nightmare?" Dan asks her.

"No, your worst nightmare will be what happens if you do anything to make them feel uncomfortable in our home," Deb threatens, smiling and straightening Dan's jacket before heading into the kitchen. Nathan smirks and follows her.

"Just ignore your dad, honey. I think you look very handsome," Deb says, kissing Nathan on the cheek.

"Thanks, mom," Nathan responds.

About thirty minutes later, people start gradually showing up. Soon after, the entire house is packed with people. Everybody was there: the whole basketball team, the cheerleaders, the parents of the team, Coach Whitey, and various other people from Tree Hill. However, he still hasn't seen Lucas. While he's scanning the crowd and trying to find him, Deb tells him it's time for his dad's speech. Nathan heads to the backyard and stands next to Tim, looking at the crowd of people in their backyard.

Finally he sees Lucas standing next to his mom, Karen.

He looks really damn good in a suit.

Nathan smiles at him, which Lucas returns in full force.

"Spirit," Dan begins, taking his post on the balcony. "The vital principle and animating force within every human being. Of course, for some of you, spirit simply means alcoholic beverages." That gets him a laugh from the audience. Nathan just rolls his eyes.

"But this Ravens basketball team has a surplus of spirit," Dan continues. "It's an incredible team with a group of incredible young men. This team has been on a roll this year. Well, I'd like to thank my lovely wife for setting up this party. Also, i'd also like to thank the parents and the local businesses, whose financial support makes this team great. Tonight's for you. Enjoy." Dan lifts his glass in a toast.

"And here's to our host, Dan Scott!" Tim's mom Shari says, lifting her glass.

"God, my parents are such suck ups," Tim sighs. Turning to Nathan, he asks "So what public humiliation do you have planned for the bastard, tonight?"

"Nothing," Nathan responds. "That's a little played out, don't you think?"

"Since when?" Tim asks. Shaking his head, Nathan walks away from him. He sees Lucas go into the house and tries to follow him.

Damn it, Brooke got ahold of him. She has him trapped on the other side of the living room, talking his face off.

"You know, there are states that could arrest you for what you're thinking about right now," A voice says from behind Nathan. Startled, he turns to find Jake Jagielski, one of his teammates, standing behind him.

How the hell can he possibly know?

"How did you -"

"It's okay man. Brooke Davis is hot, I understand," Jake says. Inside, Nathan breathes a heavy sigh of relief.

A"Yeah, I just can't resist," Nathan says, smirking. "So how are you doing, Jake?"

"I'm good. Well hey, you do your thing, man," Jake says, turning to walk away.

"Leaving already?" Nathan asks.

"Yeah, I gotta cut out early. Obligations, you know?" Jake says. "See you, Nate." Nathan waves and turns to find that Brooke is _still_ talking to Lucas. She's really ruining his plans.

Then all of a sudden Peyton is in front of him.

"Hey Nathan, do you think we can go somewhere and talk?" Peyton asks him. "Just to talk, I promise."

Well, since it looks like Brooke isn't leaving Lucas alone any time soon, he nods.

"We can go up to my room," Nathan says.

In his room, the two of them sit down on his bed together.

"So, I've been seeing you smile a lot in school lately. That's good," Peyton says. Is Nathan that obvious when he's thinking of Lucas?

"You've been looking?" Nathan asks.

"Not like that. I'm just glad that you're finally smiling again after everything that happened. You were looking pretty somber for a while," Peyton answers.

"Oh. Well Brooke told me yesterday that you wanted to get back together," Nathan says.

"Funny. She told me the same thing," Peyton says.

"So she was trying to set us up," Nathan sighs. What's Brooke's deal?

Speak of the devil, Brooke stumbles into the doorway with Tim right by her side.

"Oh! Sorry, we'll come back," Brooke gasps, smiling at the two of them.

"But there's vodka in the drawer," Tim whines.

"Later, Tim! These two need some space," Brooke says.

"You know what, Brooke? Give it up," Peyton spits, getting up from the bed.

"I'm trying! Have you seen Lucas tonight? Damn," Brooke says. Nathan can feel the jealousy rising from the pit of his stomach. If she so much as touches Lucas, Nathan is going to snap.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Peyton says.

"What? I'm just trying to help," Brooke says.

"Help with what? Making yourself look like an idiot in front of Lucas? He doesn't want you, Brooke, and me and Nathan aren't getting back together, so do everyone a favor and butt out," Peyton snaps, walking past Brooke and Tim out of the room, leaving Brooke looking flabbergasted.

"What the hell's wrong with you, Brooke?" Nathan asks, glaring at her and walking out of the room.

He has to find Lucas _now_, before Brooke tries something again.

When he finally spots him, Brooke is already there. Lucas looks over at Nathan and mouths 'help me,' but he can't do anything about it. Can't exactly tell Brooke she's stepping in on his date.

This goes on for quite a while until finally, Lucas sits down next to Nathan outside by the basketball hoop.

"Haven't seen you much tonight," Lucas says, smiling.

"Tell me about it. Every time I get within five feet of you - "Nathan starts.

"Brooke happens," Lucas finishes.

"You should just tell her to fuck off," Nathan tells him.

"Like you told Peyton to?"

Shit, he saw that?

"Just loose ends, I promise. They're all tied up now," Nathan says.

They sat silently for a second, before Lucas asks "So hey, that story you were telling me about… what happens next?"

"Come with me to my room and I'll show you," Nathan says, smirking at Lucas. He can feel his heart pulsating throughout his entire body.

He's nervous as hell.

Lucas nods, and together, they walk up to Nathan's room. Shutting the door behind them, Nathan pounces on Lucas and starts kissing him furiously.

"Don't need this," Nathan breathes, working his way down to Lucas's neck and removing his tie.

"Or this," Nathan says, starting to unbutton Lucas's shirt, kissing his way down his chest, causing Lucas to moan in pleasure.

"I've been wanting this for so long," Lucas breathes.

"Me too, and now we can have it," Nathan says, still working his way down Lucas's toned stomach.

"No, I don't mean just that," Lucas says. Nathan looks up at him, puzzled. Lucas pulls him to his feet and rests his hand on Nathan's chest, right over his heart. "I want this. I want to be here, you know? I want to have everything, not just the physical. I want us, Nathan."

Not sure what to say, Nathan has come to a sudden realization:

He can't do this.

Nathan pulls away from Lucas, which leaves him looking completely confused.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lucas asks him.

"This isn't supposed to be that, Luke," Nathan begins, trying to fight back tears. He can tell he's absolutely crushing Lucas right now, but he just isn't ready for this.

He doesn't know if he'll ever be ready for this. The consequences are just too great.

"I'm sorry," Nathan says, before running out of the room…

.. and leaving Lucas looking like he just got stabbed in the heart.


	12. Chapter 12

Sometimes, Lucas really wishes he can just keep his big mouth shut. If he hadn't of dumped all of his feelings on Nathan, he'd be with him right now.

Instead, he's standing alone in Nathan's room, looking like an idiot with his clothes halfway ripped off.

Buttoning his shirt back up, Lucas starts to walk out of the room, wanting to be anywhere but in this house. As soon as he leaves the room he's stopped by none other than Dan Scott, looking overly smug.

"Nice, isn't it? Wishing I would've chose you over Nathan?" Dan asks, smirking.

Lucas is trying really hard not to deck him in the face.

"Spare me," Lucas spits, trying to walk past Dan.

"You can try to steal my son's life all you want, but you're never gonna have it," Dan says.

"And what would I get out of that? Having you as a father? I'll pass," Lucas says, shoving Dan as he walks by. Before he walks down the steps, he turns to Dan again. "You know, for the longest time I wished I could know who you were. I didn't feel like I was good enough. Now that I know who you are, I realize I was better off."

"You keep telling yourself that, champ," Dan says, chuckling to himself. Lucas doesn't respond, and walks downstairs. He sees Haley standing by the front door carrying a few white boxes.

"Hales?" Lucas calls out to her.

"Oh, hey Luke!" Haley says. "I'm not crashing I promise. Your mom called and said Deb needed a few cakes for the party."

He nods and gives her the best smile he can muster right now. She looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

"Hey, what happened? Are you okay?" She asks him.

"Long story, but I was planning on heading out, actually," Lucas responds.

"Well hey, I'll go set these cakes down and then I'll walk with you. Sound good?"

"Sure thing," Lucas says.

"Be right back," Haley says, heading into the kitchen with the cakes. Lucas sits down and runs his hands through his hair.

"Hey there, sexy!"

He looks up and sees Brooke stumbling towards him with a drink in her hand. Before he can respond she's in his lap with her hands wrapped around his neck, and Lucas can practically taste the alcohol on her breath.

"Hey… Brooke," Lucas says.

"What do you say we leave this snooze-fest and go to the real party at my house?" Brooke asks.

"No thanks," Lucas laughs.

"C'mon! There's a jacuzzi, and there's me, and then there'll be me naked in a jacuzzi," Brooke tries, trying her best to give Lucas a flirtatious smile, but instead looking like she just passed gas, and Lucas can't help but laugh.

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass," Lucas says. The last thing he wants is to try and have sex again tonight.

"Man, you've been turning me down all night," Brooke says, pouting, "Wait, I know! You're gay aren't you?"

Nope, just for his brother, actually.

"Well damn, guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" Lucas says jokingly.

"It's okay, Luke, your secret's safe with me. I won't even remember this in the morning," Brooke says, smiling at him and poking him on the nose.

Where the hell is Haley? Lucas just wants to be rescued.

Finally, he sees her walking towards him. Now he can get Brooke off of him and…

… on second thought, never mind. He sees Nathan walking right behind her. Lucas is sure that if he asks Brooke to suffocate him with her breasts, she wouldn't say no.

"Hey, sorry I took so long, Luke," Haley begins, "Me and Nathan were just talking. Have you two seen each other at all tonight?"

Lucas glances up at Nathan, who's awkwardly standing behind Haley and refusing to look at him.

"Nope," Lucas says coldly, the pain in his chest hurting even more now.

"Oh, hey tutor girl!" Brooke says, sloppily turning towards Haley with her hands still wrapped around Lucas's neck.

"It's Haley," Haley says, giving Brooke a very uncomfortable look.

"Aren't you two just the cutest?" Brooke says, pointing at Haley and Nathan. "Nathan's personal little care package. What was my favorite part? 'Believing you'll do well is half the battle.'"

"What are you talking about, Brooke?" Nathan spits.

"Oh you know, tutor girl's little love note you passed around earlier. The one that said 'call me if you need anything… at all.'"

Lucas is beyond confused. Did Haley write him a love letter or something? He wants to be jealous, but he sees the hurt on Haley's face and instead just wants to hit Nathan.

"Haley, look, I -" Nathan begins.

"Stay the hell away from me," Haley spits, turning and running out the front door. Lucas throws Brooke off of him and chases after her, glaring at Nathan as he runs past him.

"Hales, wait!" Lucas says, chasing after her out the front door. He finally catches up to her and tugs on her arm. She turns to him, sobbing uncontrollably. Lucas pulls her into a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Lucas says, stroking her hair. "What was that about, anyway?"

"It was just a note I wrote wishing him luck on his big exam," Haley whimpers. "Just this once Luke, I deserve an 'I told you so.'"

"Well you're not gonna get it from me," Lucas tells her.

"I just started to believe that he wasn't a terrible person and he just goes and proves me wrong. Once again tutor girl is just really stupid."

That makes two of them. How can one person possibly be the cause of this much grief?

"Hey, you're not stupid, okay?" Lucas says, wiping the tears from her face.

"Thanks," Haley says, sniffling and smiling up at him. "Well, uh, at least things are working out for one of us. Seems like you and Brooke were getting cozy in there."

"Brooke?" Lucas laughs. "No way. She's been trying it all night, but she's not the one I want. The one I want turned me down pretty harshly tonight."

"Peyton?" Haley asks. Lucas shakes his head no. "So then who is this mystery girl, huh?"

_If only you knew._

"No one," Lucas lies.

"What happened to telling each other everything?" Haley asks, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

"Trust me Hales, it's not going anywhere anyway. It would be kinda pointless to tell you," Lucas says.

"Fine," Haley says. "Well hey, what do you say we blow this popsicle stand?" "Absolutely," Lucas says, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, the two of them leaving Dan's house behind them.

Maybe things are better this way. Just the two of them, without any stupid boys to come in and complicate things.

Except Lucas knows that no matter how hard he tries, he's never going to be satisfied with that.

He needs Nathan in his life.

—

Nathan rolls over in bed and groggily rubs his eyes.

Damn, did he fuck things up last night.

Not only did he screw things up with Lucas, he screwed things up with the one person who could've potentially saved him from Lucas. He didn't even know that Haley put a note in the box she gave him until Brooke said something about it, which means that she was going through his shit without his permission.

Now he's just left with an aching heart and nobody to patch it up for him. He wanted to be with Lucas so bad last night, but then Lucas just started going on about how he wanted them to be together and Nathan got scared. Sleeping with each other is one thing, but actually being together with Lucas? No, he can't do that. If he lets Lucas inside, there's no turning back. If he gives Lucas his heart, he knows that it'll be over.

That's the damn problem. He wants everything Lucas does, really, but he's just too afraid to man up and do something about it. In a perfect world, he and Lucas wouldn't be related, and they would be free to be together with no strings attached.

But, here they are in this fucked up thing called reality.

Nathan puts his face in his pillow and screams. This is all just one giant suckfest.

He has to make things right with Haley. She's his only chance at having a normal life. Without her, he's just going to keep giving in to his feelings, and that can't happen.

Nathan grabs his phone, determined to talk to Haley and set things right.

—

The day after the big party fiasco, Lucas and Haley are trying to spend time together to get their mind off of everything that happened the night before. Haley proposes they go to the CD store so she can drown herself in music.

"I need to find something that makes me want to dress in all black and never leave my room," Haley says, scanning the myriad of CDs in front of her.

"Damn, and you call me broody," Lucas jokes. "Didn't we come here to cheer ourselves up?"

"What? I am cheery. I can slash my wrists with a smile," Haley says.

"Shut up, Hales," Lucas says, laughing at her.

Suddenly he hears the bell from the door ringing, and looks over and sees Nathan walking in. He thinks about throwing the cd he has in his hand at Nathan's face, but instead settles for scowling at him. Nathan still won't look at him, and instead he looks right at Haley.

So apparently they're back to acting like the other person doesn't exist. Fantastic.

"You okay?" Lucas asks her. She nods, and he walks to the other side of the cd rack to leave them alone.

He just secretly wishes Nathan came there to talk to him instead of Haley.

Acting like he's really looking at the CDs, Lucas eavesdrops on their conversation.

"I called your mom and she said you were here," Nathan says.

"Cool. I'll be sure to lie to her next time," Haley says curtly.

"Look, I didn't even know Brooke read that note. In fact, I didn't even know there was a note until later. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Okay," Haley says, nodding and turning to look at the CDs in front of her.

"Great, so.. are we cool?"

"Oh, most definitely not," Haley says.

"You do believe me, don't you?" Nathan asks her, his voice rising.

"I believe you're sorry. But look, this whole tutoring and hanging out thing, it's not working. So let's just stop it," Haley tells him, turning over and looking at Lucas. "Hey Luke, I'm gonna head home. Call you later?"

Lucas nods, and Haley storms out of the shop, leaving Nathan standing dumbfounded. As much as he hates seeing Haley upset, Lucas hopes that she eventually stops liking Nathan, because the thought of those two being together is too much.

He's about to say something to Nathan, but then his phone starts going off in his pocket. Pulling it out, he sees Brooke on the caller id.

"Hello?" Lucas answers, turning away from Nathan.

_"Hey, it's Brooke." _

"What's up? You're not drinking again, are you?" Lucas asks her.

_"Funny. No, I'm actually calling to apologize. I was a real bitch to Haley last night."_

"That's putting it lightly."

_"Yeah, I really screwed things up for her and Nathan didn't I? That's actually what I'm calling about. Do you know where I can find her?"_

"She should be heading home right now, actually."

_"Perfect! Text me her address. I'm gonna set her and Nathan up on the perfect date tonight to make it up to them. Thanks, Luke!"_

"Wait, Brooke!" Lucas tries, but she already hung up. Perfect.

Sighing, he turns to find Nathan but sees that he already left.

Guess he has no choice but to sit back and watch as Nathan is slowly being ripped away from him.

—

After Haley totally blew him off at the CD store, Nathan retreated back home to sweat all of his frustration out.

At least, he was trying to until Brooke came up to him in his yard.

"What do you want?" Nathan spits, resting the weights and sitting up to look at her.

"To apologize for what I did to you and Haley last night," Brooke answers. Nathan has to be imagining this. Brooke Davis, apologizing? Maybe there really is a person underneath all of that makeup.

"You're apologizing?" Nathan asks her, surprised.

"Weird, right? I'm just trying to appease the Gods, so.. I'm sorry."

"Whatever. Drunken high school girls are bitches. It happens," Nathan shrugs

"I know I had that coming, but I'm trying to make things better here," Brooke says. "And get you and Haley back on track." Were they ever on a track, anyway?

"She made it pretty clear this morning that that's not going to happen," Nathan says.

"I'm gonna take care of it, promise," Brooke says, winking. "Plus, I have to get Lucas back in my good graces somehow."

So that's what this is about.

"Lucas?"

"He doesn't exactly like me right now, either. Maybe if I make sure Haley's happy with you, he'll be _really_ happy with me, if you catch my drift," Brooke says. Nathan can feel the jealousy slowly taking over him.

Damn it, he needs to keep it under control if he wants this to work. If he ever wants to get Lucas out of his head for good, he needs Haley. And if Brooke has to have Lucas in order for him to have Haley, so be it.

"I'll call you later with the details!" Brooke says, smiling at him before turning and walking away.

This better work.

Sighing, Nathan goes back to lifting, trying to get the image of Brooke and Lucas together out of his mind.

_Damn it, Luke. _

Nathan spent the next few hours nervously pacing in front of the phone until finally, he sees Brooke's name pop up.

"What did she say?" Nathan asks, snatching the phone off of his dresser.

_"You're meeting at Karen's Cafe at seven."_

"I could kiss you, Brooke," Nathan says, smiling.

_"Save that for Haley, would ya? Well I gotta go, me and Peyton are heading to a college party tonight. You two lovebirds have fun!" *Click.*_

Nathan cheers and goes to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

There's still hope for him to be normal, after all.

—-


	13. Chapter 13

Lucas has decided that he's destined to be alone forever.

He's at home just lying in bed, and Haley and Nathan are on a date right now, which means they're probably gonna end up hooking up by the end of the night. Perfect.

He also just found out his mom is going to cooking school in Italy for six weeks, which means she's probably going to move on to bigger and better things when she gets back. Why the hell are all of these good things happening to everyone else but him?

Okay, so maybe that's a little selfish, but still. It's like the world is doing everything in it's power to make sure Lucas remains alone and unhappy. If he can't have Nathan, then he doesn't want anybody. Plus, who is he supposed to settle for? Brooke?

His phone goes off after he finishes that thought. Grabbing it, he sees it's Brooke.

This girl has uncanny timing.

"Hello?" Lucas answers, the annoyance in his voice very clearly audible. She_ is_ the one who set Nathan and Haley's date up after all.

_"Geez, who the hell pissed you off?"_

"Don't wanna talk about it," Lucas says.

_"Well how about I try and take your mind off of things?"_ Lucas can see Brooke's smirk in his head.

"Sorry, I'm really not in the mood," Lucas answers.

_"Come on, broody, you can brood some other time. Peyton ditched me tonight so now I have nothing to do, and it's Saturday. Brooke Davis doesn't stay home on a Saturday night."_

_"…_Fine, what do you wanna do?" Lucas sighs.

_"We can go to the pool hall and get a few drinks. I made you a fake with your yearbook picture!"_

Brooke is just full of surprises.

"Sure thing, I'll meet you there in twenty," Lucas says.

_"Yay! See you then hot stuff."_

Flipping his phone shut, Lucas sighs and sits up.

Maybe a few drinks will get his mind off of things.

Once he gets to the pool house, he finds Brooke by the bar.

"Hey Henry!" Brooke says, pulling him into a hug.

"Um…"

"Shhh!" Brooke orders, winking at him and turning to the bartender. "Excuse me, can we have a couple beers?"

"IDs?" The bartender asks them. Brooke pulls their fakes out of her back pocket, and hands them to the bartender, who studies them dubiously before handing them back.

"Thank you… Gretchen and Henry," The bartender says, smirking like he knows they're fake, but doesn't give a shit. Taking their beers, they head to the nearest empty pool table.

"Wanna play?" Brooke asks.

"You play pool?" Lucas asks, arching his eyebrow.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Brooke says, grabbing a cue.

"Oh really? Like what?" Lucas asks, taking a swig of beer.

"Well, I'm actually not quite as dense as I make myself out to be, and I love beating boys at pool," Brooke says, bringing the cue up to her mouth and blowing the tip seductively.

"We'll see about that," Lucas says, laughing and grabbing himself a cue.

"Oh my god, is that a smile? Is Lucas Roe actually having fun?"

"I have fun," Lucas says defensively.

"Sure you do," Brooke says sarcastically. "You're literally the most serious person I've ever met."

In order to prove he's not a bump on a log, Lucas grabs his beer and chugs it.

"There. Happy?" Lucas asks her.

"Very," Brooke says, smiling. "Rack me up, gorgeous. I'll go grab you another beer."

Nodding, Lucas begins to set the table up for a game.

The two of them go on like this for a while, talking and laughing about every random thing they can think of, while drinking copious amounts of beer. To his surprise, Brooke is actually keeping up with him pretty well in pool, and more surprising yet…

… Brooke is actually pretty fun to be around. She's a lot different when she's not around every one else from school.

"Don't you just love Spaceballs?" Brooke asks, laughing and taking a drink of her beer. Both of them are pretty far gone at this point.

"'Prepare for.. ludicrous speed!"' Lucas yells, and Brooke almost falls out of her chair from laughter.

"'I knew it, I'm surrounded by assholes!"' Brooke laughs.

They're interrupted by Lucas's phone ringing. He grabs it and sees it's an out of area number.

"Out of area?" Lucas says, confused.

"Ohhh, who's that? A booty call?" Brooke asks.

"Please, the only person I wanna hook up with is on a date tonight, and _you_ set it up!" Lucas says without thinking, which causes Brooke to look at him with surprise.

Shit. Shitshitshitshit.

"Um, just forget I said anything," Lucas says nervously, taking a swig of his beer.

"As if!" Brooke says, smacking Lucas on the shoulder. "No wonder you turned me down all those times! I didn't know you liked tutor girl!"

Wait, what?

"Haley?" Lucas asks.

"Well, yeah, who else? It's not like you have the hots for Nathan," Brooke says.

Lucas should agree with her, but like an idiot, he just sits there and looks at her awkwardly. Her expression changes from amused to horrified.

Well, guess the cat's out of the bag now.

"Oh my God, Luke…," Brooke says, her mouth widened in shock.

"Look, you can't tell anybody, okay?"

"Of course not. Look, I had no idea how you felt or I would have never…. damn, this is heavy," Brooke says, her mouth still hanging open. "How long have you known?"

"A long time. It wasn't that bad until I found out we were related. Since then it's been hell," Lucas tells her.

"Have you two, ever… you know?" Brooke asks him.

"Well…."

"Oh my gosh, you have!" Brooke says, smiling. "Then that means Nathan is… damn! This is all totally crazy."

"How do you think I feel?" He asks. "Honestly, I'm surprised you're still talking to me."

"Why? It's not like you can control it. Plus, you guys like, _just_ found out you were brothers, so it's not like you've thought of him as one since you were little. Now _that_ would be creepy…"

"Not helping!"

"Sorry! Look, your secret's safe with me, promise," Brooke says, crossing her heart. "So if you guys have done stuff, that means he feels the same way, right?"

"I have no idea. The last time we talked I confessed all of my feelings and he just ran. Now he won't talk to me and he's on a date with my best friend."

"My bad," Brooke says. "Anyway, you probably just scared him, Luke. This isn't exactly a normal situation. He's probably scared out of his mind, and you dumping all of your feelings on him like that probably made him freak. And I bet he's using Haley as some kind of way to take his mind off it."

"Well, I know for a fact that she likes him, so she's most likely not going to tell him no if he asks," Lucas says.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Brooke says, pulling him into a hug. "Hey, what do you say we stop talking about it and get waisted?"

"Yes, please," Lucas says, letting Brooke pull him towards the bar. Strangely, he feels a lot better now that he has someone to talk to about this whole thing.

He just never thought that person would be Brooke Davis.

—

As he stumbles into his house that night, Lucas comes face to face with his mom, who was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for him.

"You better have been in the land of no cell phone signals," Karen spits, looking absolutely furious.

"Sorry. Should've called," Lucas tries, severely slurring his words.

"And are you drunk?!" Karen yells, getting up from the table. " Unbelievable. How the hell am I supposed to be gone for six weeks in a separate country when I have my son coming home drunk in the middle of night?"

"No, mom, don't not go just because of this," Lucas says, sobering up a little.

"I just can't. There's just too much that could happen if I leave," Karen says.

"Mom, stop! Look, I'm sorry I screwed up tonight, but you can trust me. Honestly. I want you to have this," Lucas says, grabbing Karen's hands. She hesitates a moment before sighing and nodding.

"Fine, but your Uncle Keith is staying here while I'm gone!" Karen says, pointing a finger at him. "Now go sleep it off. We'll deal with this in the morning." She kisses him on the forehead before shuffling off to her bedroom.

All night, he dreams of being with Nathan, and it was fantastic, until he was abruptly woken up by a sharp pain on his lower back.

He tries to sit up, but does it way too quickly, the throbbing in his skull reminding him how much he had to drink last night. Rubbing his temples, he slowly stands up and goes over to the mirror to examine just what the hell is causing this pain on his back.

Lifting his shirt, he turns and looks. Probably just a scratch or something…

Oh god, please no. Nononono.

Lucas got a fucking _tattoo _last night. A tramp stamp. And the worst part of it is…

.. it's Nathan's jersey number: twenty-three.

He lays down on his bed and covers his face with his hands. This has to be a nightmare that he just hasn't woken up from yet.

While he's lying on the bed contemplating ways to burn a tattoo off, he hears a knock at his outside door.

"Come in," Lucas groans.

"You sound like hell," Haley says, walking inside. Of _course_ it's Haley.

"What did you do last night?" She asks him, sitting next to him on his bed. He sits up, careful to make sure his shirt won't lift up to reveal his momentary lapse of sanity.

"Nothing, you?"

"Nothing… well, I actually kind of made out with Nathan," Haley says, smiling.

Yippee.

"Good for you, Hales."

"We just went out as friends and things kind of… escalated. I think we might even be a thing!" Haley says, positively beaming with happiness. This is just making Lucas's hangover worse.

"So, Haley James and Nathan Scott, huh?" Lucas asks her.

"Is that so strange?" Haley asks.

"Yeah, it is, actually," Lucas says.

"Well, like I said, he's a lot different than people see. I really like him, Luke," Haley tells him.

_So do I, damnit. _

As much as he's enjoying Haley unintentionally stabbing his heart with a knife, he really needs to shower and try to scrub this stupid tattoo away.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Hales," Lucas sighs, trying his best to be a good friend to her. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower, okay?"

"Alright! Call you later?" She asks him.

"Sure," He says.

"Okay, bye!" Haley says, jumping up from the bed and running out the door, grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

Lucas drags his way to the shower. Taking his shirt off, he looks at his tattoo and sighs.

_Damn it, Nathan. _

_—-_


	14. Chapter 14

Nathan's pretty sure he needs to go see a psychiatrist.

He and Haley have been dating for a few weeks now, and it's been great. He can tell that she's totally into him, and he is really starting to like her. They've been hanging out every chance they can, in between Nathan's basketball schedule and Haley's shifts at the cafe. Hell, they've even made out in the janitor's closet a few times, just for the fun of it.

All of this is great, but there's just one little problem: he still can't stop thinking about Lucas. Just when he thinks that he's over the whole thing Haley brings him up in conversation and all of a sudden Nathan is pulled back to square one. It doesn't help that he sees Lucas hanging around with Brooke all the time, which is really beginning to make him jealous.

It just doesn't make sense. He has an amazing girlfriend, so why the hell is he still caught up on his _brother_, for god's sake? All of that on top of Whitey constantly drilling them about the Cove City game coming up has made Nathan's head feel like it's going to explode.

All of this is whizzing around in his head while he's listening to Whitey after practice.

"When you leave this gym today, I want each and every one of you to take a good, long look at the sun," Whitey says, pacing in front of the team. "Because if you lose to Cove City on Friday, I can guarantee you won't be seeing it again."

Everyone around him laughs, but Nathan just sits there, nervous as all hell. While he's normally psyched out about upcoming games, this one is a whole different ballpark. There's a lot of pressure resting on his shoulders because of his dad, and now Whitey.

See, Dan Scott holds the record for most points scored against Cove City in a single game, and Nathan is pretty much expected to top it. If he doesn't, his dad will never let him live it down.

"That's not a joke!" Whitey yells. "Not one team I've coached has finished a season undefeated… and you might be the first. There are only two things standing in your way: Cove City… and you."

The bell rings, and Nathan makes a bee-line for home. He feels bad for not talking to Haley after school like usual, but he just isn't in the mood today.

He comes home to find his dad waiting in the kitchen for him with takeout. Normally his mom would be cooking, but because she's temporarily lost her mind, she's taking care of Karen's Cafe while Karen is away at some school in Italy. Nathan feels like he's in some bizarro world where nothing makes sense anymore, and he hates it.

"How's your sandwich?" Dan asks, breaking the silence between the two of them.

"Almost warm," Nathan responds, taking another bite.

"Well, I'll start cooking again, unless your mother comes to her senses," Dan says.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder…," Nathan says.

"Maybe if you convince her that you're happy, she'll stop this whole crusade. She thinks i'm ruining your life."

That's not too far from the truth. Nathan doesn't respond, instead just nods slightly and continues eating.

"So Cove City is coming up," Dan says.

Here it comes.

"Yeah. Whitey's really laying it on thick in practice."

"As he should be. Of course, you know who scored the most points against the Cavaliers?" Dan asks, smirking.

_Yes dad, I know the sun rises and sets out of your ass._

Nathan nods.

"Forty-two," Dan says, taking a drink of his soda.

Nathan really wishes he can wipe that smug look off of Dan's face.

"I'm looking to top that this week," Nathan tells him.

"Well you won't. Wanna know why? Because you're not as tough as I was. I got coverage buckets you'll never get bang down low like I did. And your conditioning is crap; I never once left the floor during a game."

Is he serious? Shouldn't parents be supportive of their kids instead of tearing them down every chance they get? Nathan can feel the anger boiling inside of him. Just as he was about to respond his mom walks in the kitchen. Not wanting to be around for the inevitable arguing, he gets up from the table.

"I'm happy, mom," Nathan says sarcastically. "Dad really loves me."

Fuck this, man. Nathan's going to show his dad up once and for all. He storms up to his bedroom and grabs his phone, dialing Tim's number.

_"What's up brotha?"_

"Tim, you do know you're white, don't you?" Nathan responds, sighing.

_"What's your problem?"_

"Is your brother still dealing?" Nathan asks.

_"Why?"_

"Cause I need to blow the roof off of Cove City," Nathan replies.

_"I dont see how getting high is going to help."_

"Not weed, you idiot. I need a performance enhancer. He'll know what to get."

_"Alright man, if you're sure."_

"Trust me, I'm sure," Nathan says, hanging up the phone.

He's going to focus all of his energy on this game, and kill two birds with one stone. He'll be able to show his dad up, and get his mind off of Lucas.

The next day before practice, Tim meets Nathan by his locker in the locker room, and hands him a bag of pills.

"Alright, these are basically amphetamines. They're like steroids on speed, so you gotta be careful."

"Whatever helps me win against Cove City," Nathan says, snatching the bag from Tim.

"Well, they'll definitely do that," Tim says.

"Thanks," Nathan says, taking one of the pills and swallowing it.

Halfway through practice, he can feel it kick in. All of a sudden he's moving quicker than he ever thought he could, and making baskets like it's nobody's business. He's not just in the game, he's _really really_ in the game. He doesn't even realize he knocked one of his teammates over when Whitey blows his whistle at him.

"That was a foul, Nathan! You need to get off his back!" Whitey yells. Nathan can feel his temper rising, but it's not because of Whitey; it's the pill.

"Why don't you get off _my_ back, Whitey?!" Nathan yells, the pill speaking for him.

"How would you like to call that a practice?" Whitey threatens.

"Whatever, that's fine by me," Nathan says, slamming the ball down on the ground as he turns to walk away.

"Nathan!" Whitey yells after him.

"What?! What the hell do you want?!" Nathan yells, turning back around to face Whitey, whose face is absolutely red with anger right now. Nathan can't stop himself; the words are coming up like word vomit.

"Walk away, Nathan," Whitey spits.

So he does.

Nathan spends the rest of the day pissed off: pissed off at Whitey, pissed off at Dan, pissed off Lucas, and pissed off at himself.

The next day at school, Nathan wears his headphones all day. He took another pill that morning, and he just wants to be left alone to focus.

His focusing is interrupted by a tap on his shoulder while he's at his locker.

Sighing, he turns to see Haley smiling up at him.

She is literally the last person that needs to be around him while he's like this.

"Hey, you okay? Lucas said you kind of freaked out in practice yesterday," Haley asks him, a look of concern on her face.

She _would_ be talking about Lucas right now. He clears his throat to disguise the discomfort he always feels when she brings him up.

"Well Lucas needs to mind his own damn business," Nathan spits. "I just have a game coming up, and I can get a little intense."

"Are you sure you're alright? You're shaking," Haley says. He didn't even notice, but he's shaking like crazy. Probably because of those pills.

It's whatever; Nathan will take a couple minor side effects if it pays off in the end.

"So your house tonight, right? For tutoring?" Nathan asks her, trying his best to change the subject.

"Yeah. I'll see you tonight," Haley says, still studying Nathan like he's a science experiment. Haley isn't stupid; she can always tell when there's something wrong with him. But, instead of pressing the subject further like Nathan knows she wants to, she gives him a smile and walks away.

Nathan turns back to his locker and pops another pill; he's getting too distracted.

He heads to the weight room to knock out some reps. While he's lifting, he sees Lucas come in and stand next to him.

Why is it he can never get through a whole weight-lifting session without someone interrupting him?

"You really blew up on Whitey yesterday," Lucas says. He and Lucas are supposed to be avoiding each other right now, damn it, so why is he talking to him? Nathan can feel his heart rate increasing.

"He deserved it," Nathan spits.

"Well I just wanted to say that I know you're under a lot of pressure from your dad, and -"

"Look, you don't know anything about my dad, okay?!" Nathan yells, and he can tell he just upset Lucas. He hates yelling at Lucas and hurting him like this, but he can't let him get close again.

Resting the weights, Nathan gets up and storms out of the room. If he stays he's just going to yell again and he can't handle seeing Lucas hurting anymore.

Later that night at Haley's house, Nathan can't concentrate. He's been pacing in Haley's room for about five minutes now.

"Are you ever going to stop pacing so we can study?" Haley asks, but Nathan barely hears it. He notices a picture hanging on her wall.

"Are these your sisters?" Nathan asks, pointing to a picture of Haley standing with two other girls.

"Yeah, I'm actually the youngest. My parents barely know what to do with the silence," Haley says.

"Did you ever think a month ago that we'd be alone in your bedroom?" Nathan asks, abruptly changing the subject. He can barely help it; the pills are making his mind go a mile a minute.

"Definitely not," Haley responds, laughing.

"So, are we gonna take advantage of this or what?" Nathan says, tugging at Haley's shirt.

"Be serious, Nathan," Haley says.

"I am serious," Nathan responds, pulling her into a kiss. He closes his eyes and suddenly, he's back in his bedroom kissing Lucas. He increases the intensity of the kiss, pushing Haley onto her back, trying to unbutton her shirt.

"Nathan," Haley breathes. She's trying to get him to stop, but he's so caught up in his daydream that he doesn't notice. He keeps going, further unbuttoning her shirt.

"Nathan!" Haley says, pushing him off of her. Suddenly he's pulled out of his daydream.

"What?!" Nathan asks.

"I think you should go," Haley spits.

"Haley, come on," Nathan tries.

"I said I think you should go," Haley says again, her eyes piercing him like a pair of daggers.

"Whatever," Nathan says, storming out of her house.

So now not even Haley can help distract him from everything.

He's seriously screwed.

—

As soon as Nathan wakes up the next morning he pops another pill to get him pumped. Tonight's the night of the Cove City game, and he's going to beat his dad's record no matter what.

He starts doing pull ups in his room when his dad walks in.

"Your arms are going to be dead for the game tonight," Dan says, as if Nathan asked for his opinion.

"You wish," Nathan spits back.

"I don't, actually," Dan says, smirking. "I'd love for you to beat my record, but I just don't think you will."

This asshole.

"We'll see about that," Nathan says.

Just as Dan opens his mouth to say something else, Deb walks up and stands beside him.

"I have some good and bad news, Nate," Deb says. "The bad news is I have to be at the cafe tonight so I can't make your game, but the good news is Haley can be there."

Not like she wants to see him after last night, anyway.

"Whatever," Nathan says, shoving past his parents towards the shower.

Later at school while he's on his way to the gym to warm up, Haley stops him.

"Hey, can we get something to eat after the game tonight and talk?"

"Not now, Haley," Nathan says.

"But-"

"I said not now!" Nathan says, the pills taking his irritability and increasing it tenfold.

"Why are you acting like this?" Haley asks. He can tell he's hurting her but goes on anyway.

"Because I can, okay?"

"What the hell is your problem?" Haley asks angrily.

"What's my problem? It's on the other side of that wall," Nathan says, pointing at the gym. "And in two hours, if I'm not perfect, they're going to eat me alive."

He leaves Haley standing dumbfounded and heads into the gym. He pops another pill when he gets in the locker room. Sinking every shot during his warmup, he's feeling pretty good about this game.

Later at the game, Nathan is absolutely on fire. He's making shot after shot, leaving Cove City in the dust. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, he's at thirty eight points, just five points shy of beating Dan's record. He can do this.

He sinks another three pointer; just two points away now. Lucas catches the rebound at the other end, giving the Ravens possession. Nathan is frantically trying to make himself open so Lucas can throw him the ball. When he finally is, all of a sudden, everything around him comes to a screeching halt.

Looking ahead, the only thing that's in focus is Lucas. Everything else around him is blurry, and he feels like he's going to pass out.

What the hell is going on?

His heart is racing from fear. All of a sudden he can feel his legs give out, and before he knows it, he's on the floor. He can hear voices coming from every direction.

"Nathan! Nathan are you okay?"

"Somebody call for help!"  
"He's not opening his eyes!"  
Then suddenly he hears Lucas's voice, telling him he needs to wakeup, and when he does, he's lying in a hospital bed, lying on a bunch of ice packs. Nathan feels like he hasn't drank any water in days.

He looks up and sees his dad speaking to the doctor.

"The early results tell me your son is going to be fine," The doctor tells Dan.

"That's great," Dan says.

"But they also tell me he's been taking some kind of amphetamine," The doctor says.

Crap. Nathan can see his dad doesn't look very happy right now.

"That has to be a mistake," Dan says, but the doctor shakes his head.

"This could just be an isolated case, but the evidence is there, Mr. Scott," The doctor says.

"Look Doc, I appreciate the concern, but I know my son, and my son wouldn't do that. If you label him as an addict you're taking away his future. So unless your results are one-hundred percent accurate, you're looking at a lawsuit you don't want."

Nathan needs to get out of here before his dad notices he's awake. He tries to get up, ignoring his body screaming at him to stay put. Once he's up, he just starts walking. He walks out of the hospital, and keeps going without a specific destination in mind. Nathan just wants to be anywhere but in there with his dad.

Before he even realizes where he's going, he's at Lucas's doorstep.

Nathan knocks on the door, and Lucas answers it immediately. What is he even doing here?

"Nathan! I was just going to call to see if you were okay!" Lucas says. "You scared the shit out of me, man!"

"Is Keith home?" Nathan asks, his voice low and weak.

"He's sleeping, why?"

Nathan doesn't respond, and just walks into Lucas's room, sitting on his bed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lucas asks him, sitting next to him.

"I'm not so good, actually," Nathan whimpers. Before he can say anything more Lucas has his arms around him. All of a sudden a feeling of blissful sanity takes over him. This is what he wants; to be right here in Lucas's arms. He's sick and tired of fighting it.

"I made a lot of mistakes, Luke, but the biggest one is pushing you away," Nathan says, gripping Lucas tighter. "I just.. I can't do it anymore."

"Hey, it's okay," Lucas says, stroking Nathan's head.

"No, it's not," Nathan says, pulling away from him. "I'm not okay. I was so scared when I passed out, and I'm still terrified. Then I saw you. I promised myself that if I could just get up and walk over to you, and tell you how much I need you, and how much I want you, nothing else matters." He can't hide from this anymore; he's in love with Lucas, and if he runs from it any longer he's going to go crazy. Hell, he almost killed himself tonight over all of this stress.

Lucas smiles and pulls him into a kiss. God, Nathan's missed these lips.

"Can I… stay here with you tonight?" Nathan asks. Lucas nods, smiling at Nathan before getting up and shutting his bedroom door.

That night, cuddled up next to Lucas, is the safest Nathan's felt in a long time.

The most _normal_ he's felt in a long time.

—


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So I've been getting a lot of views lately, but still no reviews! I'd love it if you guys could give me your opinions :) Let me know how I'm doing so far! **

Lucas wakes with a start, sitting up in his bed.

_What a dream_, he thinks, running his hands through his hair. He dreamt Nathan came over last night and the two of them actually slept in the same bed.

Suddenly he feels someone shift next to him. Startled, he looks over, and…

_Holy shit; it wasn't a dream._

Nathan is curled up beside him, sleeping soundly. Lucas just stares at him for a second to make sure he isn't hallucinating. He's never seen his brother's face so peaceful, and Lucas wishes he can just keep him like this forever; rescue him from all of the stress Dan puts on him because of basketball.

Smiling, Lucas leans over and kisses Nathan on the forehead before laying back down. Nathan stirs a bit and wraps his arm across Lucas's waist, pulling him closer and resting his head on Lucas's chest.

Lucas is pretty sure that this is what heaven feels like.

"Mmm," Nathan grumbles.

"Morning," Lucas says, kissing the top of his head. "Sleep good?"

"Best sleep I've had in a while," Nathan says.

"Agreed," Lucas says.

Suddenly he can feel Nathan laughing.

"What's up?" Lucas asks him, chuckling.

"Your heart's racing."

"I'm actually really freaking nervous right now," Lucas admits.

"How come?" Nathan asks, looking up at Lucas.

"Cause I really like you," Lucas answers, which makes Nathan smile. "And I'm afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing and you're going to run away again."

"No running away, promise," Nathan says. He lifts up and gives Lucas a kiss. "But…"

"But…?" Lucas sighs.

"Haley," Nathan says.

Shit. Lucas totally forgot about the fact that she and Nathan are dating. Now he just feels like an ass.

"What are you gonna tell her?" Lucas asks him. Nathan shrugs in response.

"I don't know, but I can't exactly tell her that we're… wait, what are we exactly?"

"We can't really be anything until you break up with her," Lucas answers.

"Can we still kiss in the meantime?" Nathan asks him, smirking.

As much as his loyalty to his best friend is wanting him to say no, how in the hell can he resist when Nathan's looking at him with those gorgeous blue eyes?

"Sure," Lucas answers, which causes Nathan to smile and kiss him again.

"Well, guess it's time to get back to the madness," Lucas says. Nathan groans and rests his head on Lucas's chest again, holding him tight.

"Are you sure you wanna get up already?" Nathan asks him in a provocative tone. Suddenly he feels Nathan's hands on his dick.

_Goddamn it._

"Not until you break up with Haley," Lucas says, grabbing Nathan's hand and pulling it off of his now hard dick. God knows he wants to have sex with him, but he can't betray his friend more than he already has.

"Fine," Nathan grumbles, getting out of bed. "But can I shower here, at least? I really don't feel like seeing my parents after last night."

"Yeah, I'll grab you some clothes," Lucas replies, jumping out of bed to rifle through his drawers. He's about to grab a shirt and sweats when he feels Nathan's arms wrapped around his waist.

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving me."

Nathan kisses the back of his neck and then steps back. Lucas grabs the clothes and throws them to Nathan, who smiles at Lucas before heading out of the room to the shower.

Lucas smacks himself to make sure he's really awake.

_Just checking._

He gets dressed and heads to the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal. His Uncle Keith is sitting at the table reading the paper and drinking coffee. Thank god he didn't come into his room.

"Morning," Lucas says, grabbing the cereal from the top of fridge. Keith looks up from his paper and gives Lucas a perplexed look.

"Luke? Who the hell's in the shower? Your girlfriend or something?" Keith asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Nathan."

Keith nearly chokes on his coffee.

"Nathan?!" Keith asks, looking at Lucas with wide eyes. "He wandered out of the hospital last night and his parents are worried sick!"

"He came here," Lucas says pouring his cereal into a bowl. "He didn't really want to face his parents after last night."

Keith reaches for the phone, but Lucas jumps over and snatches it out of his hand.

"Lucas!"

"Look, don't tell them, okay? The whole reason he ended up in the hospital was because of Dan in the first place. I'll make sure he goes home after school," Lucas says.

"Since when are you two best friends?" Keith asks him.

"Things change," Lucas answers, shrugging and taking bite of cereal.

"Uh huh," Keith answers, grabbing his paper and going back to reading.

A few moments later, Nathan walks into the kitchen. Keith eyes him curiously.

"Hey, Keith," Nathan says.

"Nathan," Keith responds, tilting his head.

"You ready?" Nathan asks Lucas.

The two of them walk out, and Lucas wishes the whole time that he could take a picture of Keith's face and frame it.

They hold hands the entire way to school, only breaking apart once Tree Hill High comes into view.

"I really wish we didn't have practice today," Nathan sighs.

Lucas notices everyone giving them weird looks as they pull into the parking lot; probably never seen the two of them actually acting civil toward each other.

He and Nathan are greeted by Haley as soon as they get out of the car.

"Nathan!" Haley yells, running and giving Nathan a hug. "I was worried sick! I tried calling you a million times! Where were you?"

"At Lucas's," Nathan replies apprehensively.

"What?" Haley asks, looking completely puzzled.

Yep, Lucas feels like the biggest ass in the world right now, so he's just going to go.

"I'll leave you two alone," Lucas says, walking behind Nathan and whispering "good luck" in his ear before making his exit.

He barely makes it five feet away from them when Brooke pops up beside him and links her arm around his.

"So what are you all smiley about?" She asks him, her brow raised.

"Nothing," Lucas answers, smirking like he just scored a fine piece of ass.

"Liar."

"Nathan came over last night," Lucas tells her. Brooke squeals with excitement.

"Details; gimme the details," Brooke gushes.

"We just… cuddled all night, and it was really amazing," Lucas says. "And he told me how much he wants to be with me."

"You were in bed with Nathan Scott and all you did was _cuddle_?" Brooke asks him, sounding extremely disappointed in him.

"It's not _just_ about the sex for me, Brooke. It's deeper than that. Plus, he's still dating Haley, and she is my best friend."

"So is he breaking up with her or what?" Brooke asks.

"Should be; I told him I'm not putting out until he does," Lucas says.

"You're better than I am; I would've been all over that by now, Haley be damned," Brooke laughs.

"Well we're not all easy, Brooke," Lucas quips, unlinking his arm and walking towards his first class.

"Hey! I'm not easy!" Brooke says before pausing for a second, "… am I?"

"I'll see you later, okay?" Lucas says, chuckling.

Later that day in study hall, he sees a text from Nathan.

_Nathan: Hey you_

_Lucas: Hey :-)_

_Nathan: So I'm looking at this guy right now_

_Lucas: Yeah?_

_Nathan: He's gorgeous_

_Lucas: Oh really. Who is he?_

_Nathan: I think his name's Lucas_

_Lucas: You're a dork_

_Nathan: You love it :P_

_Lucas: Maybe_

_Nathan: Meet me by the back bookshelf?_

_Lucas: Now?_

_Nathan: No, tomorrow_

_Nathan: Yes now_

_Lucas: Ass_

Lucas flips his phone shut and sees Nathan get up from his table and start walking towards the back of the library. He waits a minute before getting up and following. Nathan pulls him into a kiss before he can even get a word out.

"Missed you," Nathan says in between kisses. Lucas pulls away before they get caught.

"Someone's gonna see us!" Lucas whispers.

"Sorry; couldn't resist," Nathan says, smirking.

"So, how did it go?" Lucas asks.

"What?"

"Haley."

"Oh, about that…," Nathan starts, scratching the back of his head. Of course he didn't break up with her yet.

"Nate!"

"I tried, okay? I just don't wanna hurt her," Nathan says.

"We already are!"

"I promise I'll do it later. Please don't be mad at me?" Nathan says, pouting like a three year old who's trying to get out of a timeout.

"Fine," Lucas says, leaning in and kissing Nathan again. "God, I'm the worst best friend ever."

"No you're not."

"Alright, let's get back before someone sees us," Lucas says, kissing Nathan one more time before heading back to his chair.

All of this still feels all too surreal to him. Him and Nathan sending each other cute texts, sneaking off to make out in the library; it's like a wet dream come to life.

Then Lucas glances over and sees Haley, and he's brought back to reality. Nathan needs to break things off with her, and fast, because what they're doing isn't fair to her.

After school, Lucas finds the whole basketball team standing in front of the gym.

"What's going on, guys?" Lucas asks. No one answers him. He looks and sees a piece of paper taped to the doors: **Basketball cancelled until further notice. **He can't help but think that Nathan's incident last night has something to do with this.

"This sucks!" Tim yells.

"Speak for yourself, Whitey's doing me a favor," Jake Jagielski says.

"Yeah, me too," Nathan says, turning to walk away. Lucas runs up to him.

"Going home to face the parents?" Lucas asks him. Nathan scowls.

"Can't avoid them forever, I guess," Nathan replies.

"Call me if you need anything, okay?" Lucas offers.

"Wish me luck," Nathan says, looking like he wants to lean forward and kiss Lucas, but then he remembers the entire basketball is standing right behind them. Instead Nathan just winks at him and walks away.

When Lucas gets home, he sees Haley sitting on the end of his bed, looking extremely angry. Before he can say anything, she's already talking.

"We need to talk, Lucas."

—


	16. Chapter 16

"What's going on with you and Nathan?" Haley asks him, folding her arms.

Uh oh.

"Nothing…," Lucas answers apprehensively.

"So nothing's going on?" Haley asks him, scoffing.

"No. Why, did he say something to you?"

"Why? Are you trying to figure out what lie to tell me next?" Haley spits.

How in the hell can she possibly know?

_Shit_, their little PDA show in the library earlier. Suddenly Lucas feels like he's been sucker punched.

"Listen, Haley -"

"Save it, Lucas. I can't believe you _kissed_ him!" Haley yells, standing up and waving her hands at him. "First of all, it's a really jackass move considering he's my boyfriend, and second, _he's your brother_! It's disgusting!"

"Don't lecture me Haley, I know that!" Lucas yells back.

"Then stop it!"

"I can't; it's more complicated then that," Lucas says.

"It's actually really simple, what you're doing is wrong, and if you can't see that then you're seriously more screwed up than I thought," Haley says.

"I love him, Haley!" Lucas yells. He can feel the rage boiling in his stomach now. Who is she to tell him what he feels is wrong?

"That's sick, Lucas. Whatever you're doing to corrupt him, stop it. And next time you see me, don't talk to me," Haley spits, her words stabbing Lucas in the gut like a dull knife.

"Fine!" Lucas yells as Haley heads for the door.

"And if you keep this up, I'll make damn sure the whole school knows about what you're doing," Haley threatens before walking out and slamming the door.

He plops down on the bed and puts his hands over his face. He can't really blame Haley for being upset, but he never expected her to say those kinds of things to him. Of all people, he expected Haley to understand that sometimes you just fall for someone, regardless of how fucked up it might be. Guess he was wrong.

Why is it that as soon as something good happens to him, something three times worse happens immediately afterwards?

But what if she has a point? Is he corrupting Nathan? There's no denying that this is flat out wrong, but Lucas can't help it. Something about being with Nathan just makes his life feel complete somehow, and now if he keeps seeing him, everybody's gonna know. He'll be a fucking outcast.

Sighing, he goes to find his basketball. Maybe shooting a few hoops at the Rivercourt will help clear his head.

He looks at his tattoo before leaving, wishing he and Nathan could just run away somewhere together.

Run away from all of this madness.

—

Nathan can hear his parents screaming at each other as soon as he gets out of his truck. He reluctantly opens the front door and walks in, stopping in the hallway before the kitchen. He really doesn't want to be in the middle of this gunfight.

"I tried to call you but you weren't answering your phone!" Dan yells.

"That's because I ran out of the Cafe with nothing but my keys and the fear that my son was _dying_!" Deb screams back. "After Haley walked in, how long was that Dan? Twenty or thirty minutes after he collapsed?!"

"You're overreacting! My first concern was for Nathan!"

"Oh? Overreacting?" Deb scoffs. "My son nearly died and my husband didn't see fit to call, and _I'm_ overreacting."

Nathan can just picture Dan rolling his eyes right now.

"So where the hell is he, Dan? He could be anywhere! He could be hurt."

"Just get a hold of yourself, would you? The doctor said he's gonna be fine."

"Well the doctor was wrong. As long as you keep controlling him the way you do, he'll never be out of harm's way." Deb yells.

"Ohhh, okay, of course I'm to blame. It _has_ to be my fault!" Dan says.

"Yes!"

"Well maybe if you weren't so busy helping your little friend Karen out at the Cafe, you could've been there for him like I was."

"You smug son of a bitch. I want you out of this house."

"Deb…,"

"I said get out!"

"Look, it's been an emotional night….,"

"No Dan, it's been a night of clarity."

"It's _my_ house!"

"Fine! Then I'll go! But either way, Nathan stays with me."

"Don't do this, Deb."

"I'll say it one more time, Dan. Either get out or so help me god I will stab you in your sleep."

There's a moment of silence before Deb says something else.

"And you better _pray_ my son is okay!"

"Do you honestly think Nathan would choose you over me?"

Just like his dad to turn this into a pissing contest.

This is all way too fucking much right now. Not only did he almost kill himself, but his parents are probably getting a divorce because of him.

No; he can't deal with this. He hurries and slips out of the door and speeds away in his truck before either one of his parents can notice him. He'll call his mom later and let her know he's okay.

_Please be home Lucas._

He tries calling Lucas at least ten times on the way to his house but he doesn't answer.

_Damn it_.

Pulling up to Lucas's house, Nathan runs and knocks on the door to Lucas's bedroom. Much to his dismay, Keith answers.

"Can't use the front door?" Keith asks him.

"Sorry; just thought Lucas would be in here," Nathan says. "Is he home?"

"No, he cut out of here a little bit ago," Keith tells him. "Don't know where he was headed, but he looked pretty upset. I thought I heard him and Haley yelling."

Haley? What the hell is going on today?

"Well, could you let him know I stopped by?" Nathan asks.

"Sure. Hey Nate, could you actually come in for a second? I need to talk to you," Keith says. Nathan nods and follows Keith inside to the kitchen.

"So you and Lucas, you've been getting along lately?" Keith asks.

"You could say that," Nathan answers. Where exactly is Keith going with this?

"I'm just asking because… well, I'm not really sure how to say this, but…," Keith starts, nervously scratching the back of his head.

"What's up?" Nathan asks, arching an eyebrow.

"I went into Lucas's room after you guys left this morning and saw that his bed was unmade… and it looked like two people slept on it."

_Oh my god._

Nathan feels like all of the oxygen was just knocked out of him. How in the hell could they have been so stupid not to cover that up?

Okay, he has to play this cool; act like nothing happened.

"What? Two guys can't sleep in the same bed?" Nathan asks, trying his best to sound oblivious. Judging from Keith's expression, it isn't working very well.

"It's a twin bed, Nate."

"And what exactly are you getting at, Keith?" Nathan spits. Since acting oblivious isn't helping, maybe getting pissed off will.

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything, Nathan, but -"

"But nothing! I came over last night because I didn't want to see my asshole of a dad, and Lucas let me sleep in his bed with him. That's it. Now are we done here?"

"Yeah," Keith sighs. "We're done."

Nathan storms past Keith out of the house and into his truck, slamming his hands on the wheel.

"Damn it!"

This is all too risky. They're bound to get caught if they keep this up.

Looks like it's back to square one.  
—-

Lucas never even got a chance to see Nathan for the next few weeks because of Haley. Every time he got within five feet of him, Haley would appear out of nowhere and lead him away. Hell, he doubts Nathan even wants to talk to him anyway.

The one time they actually did get to talk to each other, things didn't go so well.

_"Nate, wait up!" Lucas calls out, running up to Nathan after practice. Nathan turns around and scowls. _

_"What?"_

_"Why are you avoiding me?" Lucas asks._

_"Why didn't you answer any of my phone calls?" Nathan spits._

_He couldn't; if Haley knew they were still talking…_

_"Sorry; things were just kind of complicated, man…,"_

_"Yeah, they always are," Nathan says. _

_"Can you please come over tonight?" Lucas pleads._

_"I can't, man. Haley's been breathing down my neck hardcore ever since the pill incident."_

_"Then break up with her already!"_

_"I can't, Lucas." Nathan sighs._

_"Why?" If anything, Nathan is the one making this too goddamn complicated. Lucas will find out a way to deal with Haley; make her understand. _

_"Keith was onto us, Luke." What?_

_"What are you talking about?" Lucas asks._

_"He knows we slept in the same bed together that night. He never said it directly, but I'm pretty sure he knows it wasn't just out of brotherly love." No wonder Keith was acting so strange around him that next day._

_"We can be more careful, we can -" _

_"I'm sorry, Luke, I just can't. I didn't lie about how I felt about you, but there's just too much at stake here. We'll be exiled from our families." Nathan says. "The best thing we can do is just move on and try to deal with this."_

_"Nate, please," Lucas says, tears welling up in his eyes. _

_"Just know I'm not doing this cause I hate you," Nathan says, frowning. "I'm doing this because I love you." And with that, he walks away, leaving Lucas feeling empty and destroyed. _

Lucas winces at the memory; Nathan's departure that day still fresh on his mind. He knows that Nathan is right, but goddamn it, they could find a way to make it work. He would give up his left testicle to go back in time and stop Haley from ever seeing them kiss.

"What's up, broody?" Brooke asks, sitting across from Lucas in the cafeteria. "Still moping over Nathan?"

"Nice to see you too, Brooke," Lucas says.

"Look, I hate to say it, but tutor girl won this one. I doubt the whole school would be as understanding about this whole thing like I am," Brooke says, taking a bite of her salad.

"It's not fair," Lucas pouts.

"Welcome to life, hun," Brooke says. "Look, maybe it'll blow over, tutor girl will stop being a raging bitch, and you two will get to live happily ever after."

"Yeah, right," Lucas says, chuckling.

"So has Keith said anything about it to you yet?" Brooke asks him, shoving more lettuce into her mouth.

"No, but he's always dropping hints about how anal sex leads to HIV," He says, which makes Brooke laugh. "He's not exactly subtle. But we didn't even have sex!"

"But you're also brothers."

"Thank you, captain obvious," Lucas sighs, getting up from the table. "I'm gonna cut out of here early and head to the Rivercourt; try and drown myself in basketball. Wanna come?"

"As fun as that sounds, I'll pass," Brooke says. "Hey, doesn't your mom come home tonight?"

That's right; his mom coming home is the only thing that's providing him with any ounce of happiness right now.

"Yeah. Me and Keith are picking her up tonight."

"Well try not to be so mopey when you see her, okay broody?"

"Bye, Brooke," Lucas says, shaking his head and smirking.

The Rivercourt did absolutely nothing to take his mind off of things. He can't stop thinking about how close he was to having everything he ever wanted, and how quickly it got ripped away from him. Lucas feels like a dog on a treadmill with a steak dangling in front of his face. Nathan's the steak, and Haley is the one dangling it in his face, laughing maniacally the whole time.

"Mind if I join you?"

Lucas looks and sees Peyton walking onto the court.

"Why, you wanna play?" Lucas asks.

"Oh god no. But do you mind if I draw while you play? Haven't had much quiet time lately," Peyton says.

"Sure, I don't mind," Lucas says, shooting the ball and missing terribly.

"Little rusty there," Peyton says, slightly laughing.

"You said you were gonna draw, not criticize me," Lucas says, going to retrieve the ball.

"Sorry, I'll shut up," Peyton tells him, sitting down at a picnic table and pulling her drawing kit out of her bag.

Lucas kept shooting for a long time while Peyton drew, and he kept missing terribly.

"Everything okay?" Peyton asks him after he misses for the third time in a row.

"Not really," He replies.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," He says again.

"Well whatever it is, just know I'm here for you, okay?" Peyton says, tearing the picture she was drawing out of her sketchbook. She gets up from the table and walks over to Lucas, handing the picture to him.

It's a picture of Lucas, Haley, and Nathan, all standing in a line and pointing hunting rifles at a giant heart floating in the sky. There was a basketball jersey around the heart, and on it was "Scott, 23."

"How did you -" Lucas starts, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Suddenly he realizes how she knows.

_Brooke._ He's going to kill her.

"Brooke tells me everything. But don't be mad at her; we've told each other everything since we were kids. Just know I didn't come here to judge you; I came here to tell you you're not alone if you need someone to talk to," Peyton says, smiling at him. "Plus, I know how much of an ass Nathan can be."

"That's an understatement," Lucas chuckles.

"Just hang in there. It takes him a while to get things through that thick skull of his, but sooner or later he'll come around."

"Thanks, Peyton," Lucas says, pulling her into a hug.

"Anytime," Peyton responds, turning to walk to her car. "See you later, Luke."

As much as he wants to murder Brooke for telling Peyton about him and Nathan, it's actually nice to have somebody else in his camp. He's kept this dirty little secret so long that it's almost invigorating to be able to talk about it.

Shit; it's starting to get dark out. He needs to get home before he and Keith are late picking his mom up from the airport. Lucas grabs his things and heads home, finding Keith pacing in the kitchen.

"There you are!" Keith says. "I was getting worried for a second."

"Sorry, just went to the Rivercourt for a bit," Lucas says. "I'll go shower really quick so we can go."

He walks past Keith, and notices that he reeks of beer.

"Have you been drinking?" Lucas asks, turning and looking at Keith. "Want me to drive?"

"Just calming my nerves," Keith answers. "I'll be fine."

Lucas nods apprehensively and heads to the shower. Keith is already waiting in his truck honking his horn for Lucas when he gets out. He puts on the first pair of clothes he can find and runs out to the truck. It was completely dark out now.

They ride in silence for a while before Keith finally says something.

"So, uh.. you excited to see your mom?" Keith asks. Lucas can tell he's still being awkward about the whole Nathan thing.

"Yeah," Lucas answers.

"Seems like just yesterday I was kissing her at the airport," Keith says.

"Wait, you were kissing my mom?" Lucas asks. This is the first he's heard of this.

"Just saying goodbye," Keith says. Yeah right.

"Just do me a favor and keep the PDA to a minimum, okay?"

"Listen, Luke," Keith says while they're stopped at a stop light, "I know it hasn't always been smooth sailing between us, but whatever your mom wants us to be, I want you to know -"

"I love you too, Keith," Lucas finishes, turning and smiling at his uncle. Lucas sees the light in front of them turn green, and Keith starts to pull out and turn left.

The last thing Lucas sees is a pair of headlights before he blacks out, hearing the sounds of metal crushing around him.

—


	17. Chapter 17

Nathan should really make a career out of running away, because he does such a damn good job at it.

The day that Keith confronted him about Lucas scared the crap out of him. Sure, it's all well and good if nobody knows he and his brother have feelings for each other, but the threat of one of their family members finding out is enough to make Nathan want to hide his feelings forever. He does love Lucas, so much it hurts, but is it worth being isolated from his family and friends?

At first, it wasn't. But now he isn't so sure. He's pretty sure his mom and dad are getting a divorce, so it's not like they're really much of a family anymore.

So instead of just saying fuck it and being with Lucas anyway like he wants, he just ran, like he always does, and he really hates himself for it. So much for not being scared anymore.

Also, if he has to see Lucas cry one more time because of him he might drive himself off of a cliff. Not like Haley would let him talk to Lucas anyway. For whatever reason, every time he finally gets the balls to say something to Lucas, Haley pops up out of nowhere and drags him off. He also noticed the two of them haven't been talking recently, and every time he brings it up Haley changes the subject so fast he barely has time to blink. Nathan wishes he could just break up with her and get it over with, but she provides him with a nice distraction, and a good cover story if he and Lucas almost get caught again.

_If_ they ever do anything to get caught again.

"You okay?" Haley asks him. The two of them are in her room trying to study, but Nathan's too damn distracted to be of any use.

"Yeah, just thinking," Nathan responds, still pretending like he's actually reading the history book he's holding.

"About?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff, okay?" Nathan says, getting a little agitated about Haley's constant interrogating.

"Whatever you say," Haley says, going back to her book. "Isn't this weird though?"

"What?" He asks, not sure what she's talking about.

"You and me in my room alone together. Never thought i'd ever be in my room with the great Nathan Scott," Haley says, nudging him with her foot.

"It is pretty strange," Nathan says, nodding his head. "And to think I only came to you for tutoring to mess with Lucas. Now look at us."

Suddenly Haley's expression switches from happy to pissed off.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Haley asks.

"About what?" Nathan responds.

"About the way we started."

"Well, I figured the easiest way to mess with Lucas was to hook up with you, so….," Nathan tells her, not really sure why she looks like she wants to smack him right now….

.._Crap_

"Wait, Haley, I can explain -"

"Unbelievable," She says, shaking her head. "So everything between us has been a lie?"

_Well, sort of. _

"Of course not Haley, just -"

"I jumped down Lucas's throat for _nothing,_" She says.

Wait a minute, what?

"Huh?" Nathan asks, arching an eyebrow.

"Forget it, Nathan," Haley says.

"Why did you jump down his throat?" Nathan asks. There's something she hasn't been telling him and he's sick and tired of her avoiding the subject.

"Because I saw the two of you kiss, okay?!" Haley yells.

The feeling Nathan got in the pit of his stomach when Keith approached him is back, and this time it's ten times worse.

"I told him to stay away from you, and if he didn't I would tell everybody about…," Haley starts, looking increasingly more nervous.

And suddenly that feeling is gone. Why the hell would she do something like that?!

"Tell everybody _what_, exactly?" Nathan yells, absolutely furious. "So not only would you be ruining his life, you'd be willing to ruin _mine_ too?"

"Of course not, Nathan, I was just mad and jealous and - "

"And being a bitch," Nathan finishes for her. "So I guess everything's out in the open now, huh?"

"Guess so," Haley says. "Except for one thing. Do you have feelings for Lucas, too?"

"Haley -"

"Do you?" Haley asks again, folding her arms.

He wants to just say yes and get it over with, but his fear is taking over again.

"I.. I don't know," Nathan says, his gaze sinking to the floor.

"How can you not know?!" Haley says. "It's a simple yes or no question."

"Fine then! Yes, okay?!" Nathan yells before he even realizes the words are coming out of his mouth. His eyes are still fixed to the floor; he's too afraid to look at her face right now.

"So was there ever anything between us?" Haley asks, sounding like she's on the verge of tears.

"I thought that there could be," Nathan answers. "Truth is, I was just too scared to admit to myself I have feelings for Lucas. Still am. Figured if I could fall in love with somebody else that I would forget about him."

"I'm such an idiot," Haley says. "I lost my best friend for nothing."

"No you're not," Nathan says, looking up at her now, seeing her face buried in her hands. "If anything I'm the idiot. If I wasn't so scared to admit my feelings it would've spared all of us a lot of heartache. I'm sorry."

"Me, too. I should've said something sooner," Haley says, looking up at him with damp eyes. "And now thanks to me, Lucas might be out of our lives for good."

_Our_ lives?

"Wait, so, you mean you accept this?" Nathan asks.

"I didn't really mean any of those terrible things I said," Haley tells him. "I was just angry. The bottom line is, if my best friend is happy, then I'm happy. And if what makes him happy is you, who am I to stand in the way?"

This is totally _not_ how Nathan expected this conversation would go. Not knowing what else to do, Nathan pulls her into a hug.

"I'm still here for you, okay?" Haley says, running her hand along Nathan's back.

"Thanks, Hales," Nathan says.

The ringing of Haley's phone breaks them up.

"Hello?" Haley says, snatching the phone off of her bedside table. He can hear Keith on the other end.

"What?!" Haley says, putting her hand over her mouth. He can tell something's wrong.

"What is it?" Nathan asks, but Haley motions for him to be quiet.

"He's going to make it, right?" Haley asks, sounding even more freaked out now.

Suddenly Nathan feels like someone knocked the wind out of him. Please don't like it be what he thinks…

"Okay, thanks," Haley says, hanging up the phone, her eyes wet with tears.

"Haley, what happened?!" Nathan asks again, his voice filled with panic.

"It's Lucas.. he.. he was in a bad accident," Haley says, the tears falling down her face now.

_No. _

_This can't be happening. _

"Is he gonna be okay?!" Nathan asks, jumping up from the bed.

"Th-they don't know yet; Keith said he's in surgery," Haley says in between sobs.

"Come on Haley, we need to go see him," Nathan says, grabbing his coat off the bed and heading for the door. He turns and realizes she isn't moving.

"Haley?"

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Nathan asks, getting annoyed. Lucas is hurt and they're in here wasting time.

"After what I said to him, I have no right to go see him," Haley says.

"He's your best friend Haley, and right now he needs you," Nathan tries.

"Just…," Haley says, getting up from the bed and walking to Nathan. "… you go. And call me as soon as you get an update."

"You sure about this?" Nathan asks, but Haley doesn't answer, instead she just falls into him, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I-if he dies, I'll n-never forgive myself," Haley says, crying into Nathan's chest.

"Don't you say that," Nathan says, grabbing her shoulders. "He's going to be fine, and you guys are going to be fine. I promise."

Haley pauses for a second and then nods. Nathan hugs her one last time before heading to the door.

"I'll call you, okay?" He says before running out the door to his truck.

On the way to the hospital, he's pretty sure he ran at least two stop signs. The only thing on his mind right now is Lucas. If he loses Lucas before the two of them can be together…

No, Nathan won't think that way. He's going to be okay…

… _right?_

He runs to the waiting room of the emergency room and finds Keith sitting with his head resting on his fists, looking pretty beat up. His face is stained with remnants of dried blood, and there's a giant gash on his forehead. If Keith looks this bad, he can't imagine what Lucas looks like.

"Keith!" Nathan yells, running up to him. Keith stands and pulls Nathan into a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, man," Nathan says, pulling away. "Where is he?"

"In surgery; they asked us to wait here and they're going to let us know when he's in recovery."

"He's… he's gonna be alright, right?" Nathan asks, his voice cracking. "I can't… I can't lose him, Keith. I won't." The seriousness of the situation finally hit Nathan and he feels like he's going to break down right there.

Before Keith can answer, Nathan spots a doctor walking past them.

"Excuse me, were you in the operating room with Lucas Roe?" Nathan asks the doctor, who gives Nathan an inquisitive look.

"He's my… brother," Nathan says.

"He's in good hands; Dr. Hill is an excellent surgeon," The doctor tells him. "Still, your brother is lucky that your dad got him here when he did."

"You mean his uncle?" Nathan asks, confused. The doctor shakes his head no, and then he can feel Keith's hand on his shoulder.

"Dan saw the accident. He pulled Lucas out of the car, and drove us here," Keith says.

Nathan has to be imagining this. _Dan Scott_ saved Lucas? The man with a giant black hole for a heart, who just a few months ago still acted like Lucas didn't exist?

"My dad saved him?" Nathan asks, and Keith nods in response. He can't believe it.

For once, he might hug his dad the next time he sees him.

"Keith!"

Nathan turns and sees Karen running towards the two of them, a look of pure panic on her face. Keith runs to her and pulls her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see the other car," Keith tells her.

"Where's the operating room? I need someone to tell me what's going on!" Karen says, scanning the room.

"He's in surgery right now; we have to wait here till he's in recovery," Nathan tells her. Suddenly she looks at him like she just now noticed that he was standing there.

"Nathan?" She says, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Who's here for Lucas Scott?" A female doctor asks before Nathan can answer her, walking up to them with a clipboard in hand.

"I'm his mother," Karen says, raising her hand slightly. "Is my son okay?"

"He's stable and in recovery," The doctor says.

For the first time in an hour, Nathan feels like he can breathe again.

"He needed a lot of work, though," The doctor continues, flipping through the pages of her clipboard. "His right lung collapsed and had to be repaired. I had to remove his spleen, but there shouldn't be any longterm complications with that."

"So you're saying he'll be fine?" Karen asks before Nathan can. _Just tell us if he's alive, damn it!_

"Well, he will need to go through physical therapy for his shoulder; it separated in the crash, but we were able to reset it. Other than that, he has a concussion and some bruising."

_Jesus._ It's a miracle he's even alive at this point.

"But…," The doctor begins.

Uh-oh. Buts are never good.

"… there was a complication during the surgery."

"What?" Karen asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Your son lost a lot of blood," She answers, "which caused his heart rate to drop. We… lost him for a seconds."

Nope, Nathan still can't breathe. He sits down in the nearest chair because his legs can't hold him up anymore.

Lucas actually _died_ for a few seconds. If he lost him for good, Nathan doesn't know what he would do.

"Like I said though, he's stable now," The doctor continues. "All of his vitals look good, so now all we can do is wait for him to wake up."

"And when will that be?" Karen asks him.

"That's up to him," She answers. "Could be a couple of hours, or a couple of days."

"Thanks, Doc," Keith tells him. The doctor nods and walks away. Nathan sees Karen start to cry, and Keith pulls her into another hug.

He has to see Lucas, and now.

"I'm gonna go find out where he is," Nathan says, getting up from his chair and going to talk to the receptionist.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where Lucas Roe's room is?" Nathan asks the receptionist.

"Let me check….," She answers, typing on the computer in front of her. "… Lucas Roe right? Room 307."

"Thank you," Nathan says, starting into a fast walk down the hallway. He finally finds Lucas's room, but stops dead in his tracks when he reaches the doorway.

Lucas is just lying there in the hospital bed, lifeless. Nathan stands and stares at him for a few seconds before walking in the room.

"Lucas?" He tries, even if he knows he isn't getting a response. Nathan sits down in the chair next to the bed and grabs his hand.

"Hey, it's me," He says, gently squeezing Lucas's hand. "I know you can't hear me right now, but I just wanted to let you know I'm here, okay?"

He hears movement by the door and drops Lucas's hand instantly, turning to see Karen coming in.

"Sorry, I meant to come get you guys, but-" Nathan starts.

"No, it's okay," Karen says, bending down to kiss Lucas on the forehead. She pulls up a chair on the side opposite Nathan and sits down, grasping Lucas's other hand.

It's a little weird for him, being in the same room as Lucas's mom. The two of them have never really spoken to each other, especially not after learning he and Lucas are brothers. He just really isn't sure what to say.

_"Hey, I'm in love with your son."_

Doesn't really seem like a good conversation starter.

"I'll give you some time alone with him," Nathan says, starting to get up.

"Wait, Nathan," Karen calls after him. "It's really okay. I'm sure he'd be glad you're here."

"I don't know about that," Nathan sighs, sitting back in his chair.

"Why's that?" Karen asks him.

"Cause I've been a royal jerk to him," Nathan answers, scowling at the thought of how he's treated Lucas these past couple months.

"Well I'm sure that finding out you were brothers was just as hard on you as it was on Lucas," Karen says, smiling over at him.

If only _that_ was the only problem.

"I just… wish I could go back and do things differently," He says. "Seeing him here like this makes me realize how little time we actually have."

"The important thing is that you're here now. He'll realize that, eventually," Karen says.

"I hope so," Nathan sighs.

He feels himself about to start crying, so he hurries and gets up before Karen can see. The last thing she needs right now is for someone else to cry.

"I'm gonna call Haley and give her an update," He says, quickly walking out of the room. Nathan dials her number and she picks up on the first ring.

_"Is he okay?"_

"He's gonna be fine, but they don't know how long it'll be till he wakes up," Nathan answers. He can hear a breath of relief over the phone.

_"Thank god."_

"Want me to come get you?"

_"I can't, Nate."_

"Don't you want to see him?" He asks.

_"Of course, but I just can't. Not after the things I said."_

"Haley, he's your best friend," Nathan says. "You need to see him." He understands where she's coming from because he feels like shit too, but Lucas would want her here.

_"I will when I'm ready, okay?"_

"Okay," Nathan says, sighing.

_"Thanks for the update. Call me if anything else happens?"_

"Of course."

He hears the line go dead, and walks back towards the room. Nathan hears that Keith is in there now, and from the sounds of things, Karen isn't too happy with him.

"Were you drinking tonight?" Karen asks Keith.

"Karen….,"

"Were you?" Karen asks again. Nathan can hear Keith sigh.

"I wasn't drunk."

"That's not what I asked you!" Karen snaps. "Were you drinking before you drove Lucas?"

"Yes, but…,"

"I trusted you," Karen interrupts, sounding angry and like she wants to cry at the same time. "I want you to leave."

Shit, Nathan needs to get away from the door before they notice he's there. He fast walks his way to the elevator, deciding he's just going home for the night. Being in there was just too hard.

Running away again. Surprise surprise.

On his way, he sees Brooke looking panicked at the receptionist counter.

"Brooke!"

"Oh my god, Nathan!" She says, running up to him. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's asleep, but they think he'll be fine," Nathan tells her. "He's in room 307."

"Thank you," Brooke says. "Are you not staying?"

"No," Nathan responds, shaking his head. "It's just too hard to see him like that."

"Are you saying you actually care about him?" Brooke asks, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean -"

"It's okay. He told me about you two," Brooke tells him. He can feel his face getting redder by the second. "And just so you know, I'm pulling for you guys."

"Just stop being a jackass," Brooke snaps, slapping Nathan on the shoulder and walking past him.

Christ, is there anybody that doesn't know he wants to fuck his brother?

—-


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad I'm doing a good job :). Hope you're all still enjoying it!**

It's been two days since the accident, and Lucas still isn't awake. These have probably been the longest two days of Nathan's life.

He's stopped by the hospital a few times, hoping to get some alone time with Lucas so he can talk to him, but Karen hasn't left his side once. It's not like he can just tell Karen to leave, but he can't exactly say what he wants to in front of her either.

Mostly he just feels useless. Lucas is just lying in there, and he can't do a damn thing about it.

Haley's been avoiding the hospital like the plague, still feeling incredibly guilty about everything that's happened. Nathan's been trying constantly to get her to go, but when she threw a coffee cup at him in the cafe he decided that he should probably just leave it alone.

Things haven't been too great at home either. Dan's living at the beach house, constantly bugging Nathan about moving out there with him. His mom keeps telling him about how sorry she is about all of this, and honestly, he just wants the both of them to shut the hell up. At this point, he doesn't want to live with either of them.

He's at home playing _SSX_ on his PS2 to pass the time when he gets a phone call from Haley.

"Hello?" He says, resting the phone on his shoulder.

_"Are you busy right now?"_

"Just trying to lose myself in snowboarding. What's up?" Nathan says, still focusing on the game.

_"I think I'm ready to go see him."_

Nathan pauses the game before answering her. "Are you sure you're not going to fling another cup at me if I come get you?" He can hear a slight laugh in response.

_"At least my aim sucks. Yeah, I'm sure."_

"Okay, I'll drop by and pick you up," Nathan says, turning the PS2 off and grabbing his keys.

_"Alright.. see you in a bit." _Haley sighs before hanging up; probably nervous as all hell.

She reluctantly gets in his truck when he pulls up to her house, biting her nails the entire time they've been driving.

"Good thing we're heading to a hospital," Nathan quips.

"Why?" Haley mumbles, still biting away.

"Because you're not gonna have any fingers left if you don't stop," Nathan says, pointing at her hands.

"Shut up," She says, smacking him on the shoulder. "I'm just nervous."  
"Haley…,"

"What if he wakes up while I'm there and doesn't want to see me?"

"At least he would be awake," Nathan snaps.

"Sorry, you're right," Haley sighs, finally lowering her fingers from her mouth.

They spend the rest of the ride in silence.

In Lucas's room, Karen's asleep in a chair against the wall, and Lucas is still as lifeless as he was the last time Nathan came to see him. Instead of following him in, Haley stops in the doorway.

"I can't," Haley whispers, retreating into the hall.

"Haley, wait!" Nathan says, following her and trying to keep his voice low so he doesn't wake Karen. "It's alright."

"No it isn't," Haley responds, rubbing her forehead."He's lying in there and I can't do anything about it."

"Then just be there for him," Nathan tells her. "Talk to him; it'll make you feel better."

"I don't deserve to feel better," Haley says. "I mean, giving him an apology isn't worth anything if he isn't even awake to hear it. Plus, I'm just going to start crying and that's the last thing Karen needs."

"C'mon, Haley," Nathan tries, but she starts walking away from him.

"I can't," Haley says, turning and walking down the hall.

Sighing heavily, Nathan proceeds back into the room and sits in a chair next to the bed. There's so many things running through his mind that he wants to say, so many things he wants to apologize for, but Karen's still in the room. She is asleep though..

Well, guess this opportunity is as good as any.

"Hey, Luke," Nathan says, squeezing Lucas's hand. "It's me again. I'm here to apologize because… everything's just so screwed up right now. You and me, you and Haley; it's all messed up. We're not together anymore, but she needs you to open your eyes, man. She's hurting, and feels like she can't be forgiven for what she said. I'm sort of in the same place."  
He glances over at Karen to make sure she's asleep before continuing.

"I'm sorry I've hurt you so much, and I'm sorry I've been running away this whole time instead of running to you like I should've been. The truth is… I love you, Lucas. Kind of scary saying it out loud, but it's the truth."

Nathan can feel himself start tearing up, and wipes his eyes. "So now I just need you to wake up, okay? I can't do this without you."

Nathan drops his head down, wiping the tears from his eyes again. Suddenly he feels Lucas's hand twitch. He looks up and sees Lucas's eyes staring right at him.

_He's awake. _

"Hey," Nathan says, smiling like crazy.

"Water," Lucas breathes, his voice practically inaudible. Nathan hurries and pours a cup of water for him, lifting it to his lips so he can drink.

"What.. what are you doing here?" Lucas asks weakly, wincing and clutching his right shoulder with his left hand.

Nathan doesn't respond; instead he stands up and kisses Lucas's lips, resting his forehead on Lucas's.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, you asshole," Nathan says, letting the tears flow freely now.

"Nathan…," Lucas says, gently wiping Nathan's eyes with his thumb. Shit; he needs to get ahold of himself and wake Karen up.

"I'll go get your mom," Nathan says, kissing Lucas one more time before walking to Karen and gently nudging her shoulder. "I think Lucas wants to talk to you." Karen wakes with a start, looking at Nathan curiously before looking at Lucas.

"Lucas?!" Karen says, jumping from her chair to his side. "Talk to me sweetie, I'm right here."

"Hi, mom," Lucas says, smiling up at Karen.

"Oh my God," Karen says, bending over and pulling Lucas into a hug.

"Ouch, mom. Still in pain here," Lucas says, wrapping his left arm around his mom.

Feeling like he should give the two of them some time, Nathan quietly slips out of the room. He needs to go find Haley, but she ran out of there so fast he couldn't ask her where she was going.

He tries her house first, but her parents said she wasn't home. So he tries the cafe next.

"Hey honey, any news?" Deb asks him from behind the counter as he walks in.

"He's awake!" Nathan tells her, smiling.

"Thank goodness," Deb says, breathing a sigh of relief. "You know, it's really brave of you to go and visit him, considering our messy family situation. I'm proud of you, Nate." She doesn't even know the half of it.

"Thanks, mom," Nathan says, chuckling. "Hey, have you seen Haley?"

"She came through here earlier and headed for the roof," Deb answers, pouring a cup of coffee.

"Cool," Nathan says, heading behind the counter towards the door to the roof. He stops for a second when he gets up there, admiring everything. The whole roof is designed like a miniature golf course. Why hasn't he been up here yet?

He spots Haley sitting on a little kid's picnic table.

"My mom told me I would find you up here," Nathan says, sitting next to her.

"Hey," Haley says, giving him a slight smile.

"So this place is pretty cool," He says.

"Yeah it is," She says. "Lucas and I built this, back when it was the two of us against the world. Sorry I ran out of the hospital."

"Don't sweat it," Nathan says, wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder. "But I think you might wanna go back."

"Why's that?" Haley asks him.

"Lucas is awake."

—

Lucas can barely move without feeling like he's going to fall apart.

He right shoulder hasn't quit fucking throbbing since he woke up, his chest feels like it's going to collapse even when he just tries to sit up, and his stitches where he got his spleen removed will not stop itching.

In a nutshell, he feels like pure shit, but he's happy he's alive. He can barely remember the accident; everything after leaving the house with Keith that night is extremely fuzzy. Bits and pieces are coming back to him, but nothing major. Lucas can also remember hearing a few things while he was asleep; his mom singing to him, and Nathan talking to him. He also remembers Nathan kissing him as soon as he woke up, which quite frankly, confuses the crap out of him. Every time he thinks about it his head starts throbbing even worse, so he's been trying to keep it out of his mind as much as possible.

His mom told him how many people came to see him: Whitey, most of the basketball team, Brooke, Peyton, Deb, and much to her surprise, Nathan. He apparently set a new record for most "visitors while unconscious." One name he noticed she didn't say though was Haley. Are things really that bad between them?

Lucas reaches for a cup of water, but stops halfway, his body screaming at him for moving.

"Careful mister, or you'll pop a stitch," Karen says, grabbing the water cup and handing it to him. "Here."

"I'm not helpless, mom," Lucas says, taking a drink.

"Keep this up and you will be," Karen says. Before Lucas can say something else, his doctor walks in the room.

"How are we feeling today?" The doctor asks him.

"Like I had my spleen ripped out," Lucas quips.

"You'll be sore for a while," The doctor says.

"What about basketball? Will I ever get it back?" Lucas asks. The pain in his shoulder tells him the answer is no.

"Your shoulder was pretty badly damaged. Full recovery may not be possible, but I wouldn't give up hope."

"Great," Lucas sighs.

"Well, since you seem to be doing fine, I'd say you should be good to go home in a few hours," The doctor tells him. "We'll get you set up with some pain medication before you leave. Make sure you take it, or your shoulder will hurt even worse."

"Thanks doc," Lucas says, and she turns and walks out.

"Don't worry honey, you'll be able to play again," Karen says, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Let's hope," He responds.

Suddenly he hears a knock at the door. Looking up he sees…

… Haley, smiling at him with tears falling down her face.

Guess they're gonna be okay after all.

"I'll leave you two alone," Karen says, smiling and walking out of the room. Haley runs up to him and gives him a hug, sobbing into his chest.

"Hey buddy," Lucas says, kissing the top of her head.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Haley says, squeezing him tighter, making him wince. "Sorry."

"Thanks for finally coming to see me," Lucas says, smirking. Haley lifts up, wiping her eyes.

"I would've came sooner, but I just couldn't," Haley says. "I said a lot of horrible things to you, Lucas."

"All water under the bridge," Lucas says, which makes her smile. "We're best friends, remember? We can make it through anything."

"Yeah, you're right," She says. "So, about this whole Nathan situation.."

"I'm sorry for kissing him, I promise I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"We broke up, Luke," She tells him.

"Oh," Lucas says. "How come?"

She doesn't respond; instead taking off the toy bracelet she got from Nathan and putting it around Lucas's wrist.

"Because I wasn't the one this was meant for," She says, smiling at him. "I'm sorry for freaking out. I was letting my own personal feelings cloud my judgement. The truth is, as long as you're happy, I'm happy. Plus, the way he looks at you… he never looked at me like that."

"You sure about this?" Lucas asks.

"Of course," Haley responds.

"You really have no idea how much this means to me," Lucas tells her.

"Like you said, we can make it through anything."

The two of them talked for a while, laughing like old times, and he realizes that he's missed this terribly. He's never going to let anyone come between the two of them again…

… unless of course they look like Nathan. _God damn._

Lucas looks and sees Nathan coming in his room, smiling at Lucas, showing off those gorgeous dimples of his.

"I'll let you two talk," Haley says. "Call me when you get home?"

"Yeah," Lucas says, still gawking at Nathan. Haley gives him a hug before leaving the two of them alone.

"Hey," Nathan says, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, staring at Lucas with those gorgeous deep blue eyes.

"Hey," Lucas says, smiling like an idiot.

"Isn't that..?" Nathan says, pointing to the bracelet on his wrist.

"Yeah," Lucas says, holding his arm up. "Haley said it was meant for me and not her."

"So she told you we broke up?"

"Oh yeah, she pretty much told me everything… including how you only hooked up with her to mess with me," Lucas says. Nathan's dimples fade into a frown.

"I made a lot of stupid mistakes," Nathan says.

"Ya think?" Lucas says, laughing.

"Guess I was just scared," Nathan says, shrugging.

"Like I'm not?" Lucas asks. "Look, if we spend the rest of our lives being afraid, we're going to look back and keep wondering 'what if?' And I can't do that."

"Me either," Nathan says, his cheeks turning red, "So that's why I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"Will you be my boyfriend?"

It takes Lucas a second to register Nathan's question. He has to be dreaming this.

"Are you serious?" Lucas asks.

"Hell yeah I'm serious," Nathan answers, smiling. Lucas still is at a loss for what to say. "Could you just say yes already? This is pretty nerve-wracking."

Laughing, Lucas pulls him down and kisses him.

"Yes," Lucas says, feeling absolutely euphoric.

Nathan smiles and kisses him back.

"Just don't think I'm gonna go easy on you in practice because we're dating," Nathan says, running his hands through Lucas's hair.

"Bring it on, little brother."

—


End file.
